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A X A (' C O U N T 



rET.EBRATTON IN ROXliURY 



NOVEMBER 22. 1876. 



ORA'rrON OF GEN. HORACE BINNEY SARGENT, 

SPEECHES AT THE DINNER 

AND OTHER MATTERS. 




BOS T O N : 

1' U K S S (.) 1' I! < ) (' K \V E T> L AND C II T R ( ' II I L L . 

X (). ■■■ '.' A K O II S T II K K T . 
1877. 



^Ipifeiirg^ 



entgiiiiiH 



AN ACCOUNT 



CELEBRATION IN ROXBUEY, 



NOVEMBER 22, 1876. 



WITH THE 



ORATION OF GEN. HORACE BINNEY SARGENT, 

SPEECHES AT THE DINNER 

AND OTHER MATTERS. 




BOSTON: 

PRESS OF K C K W E L L AND CHURCHILL. 
XO. 30 ARCH STRKET. 

1877. 



(."ff 



INTEODUCTOEY. 



Every native of that part of Boston within the limits of the old 
town of Roxbnry cherishes with patriotic pride the historic tradi- 
tions which clnster aliont its pleasant hills and valk\ys : and since 
the blotting of its name from the list of nnmicipalities of the 
State, — conseqnent npon the annexation of this district to Boston, — 
ver}' general regret has been expressed that no connected history of 
the town in the Revolntion had l)een i)nblished. To Gen. John L. 
S^'ift is dne the honor of recently calling public attention to this 
hiatus in the printed local records of the Revolntion. A sentiment 
uttered by him in an oration at the dedication of Kennedy Hall, in 
1874, proved to be the mainspring of a movement which culminated 
in the celebration hereinafter recorded. Alluding to the incom- 
pleteness of the written history of Roxbury. Gen. Swift sug- 
gested that the histoiy of the town, in connection with the opening 
events of the Revolution, would justify the locality in selecting one 
day X)f the Centennial year for a conunemorative celebration, and 
the deliver}' of an historical address. 

The sentiment was loudly cheered at the time of its utterance, 
but no action was taken to carry out the idea. Indeed, it was for- 
gotten by the general public, and the Centennial year liad almost 
passed into history before it was recalled in a pn])lic manner ; and 
then by a mere accident. On October 9th, 187(5, a committee from 
the Roxbury City Guard met a committee from the Association of 
its past members — the Roxbury Artillery Association — to decide 
how the two organizations should obsei-ve their annual fall parade. 
It proved to be difficult to suggest a progrannne u[)on which all 
could agree, and there was some delay. At length ('apt. Wm. 11. 
Hutchinson, a private in the Guard, n'called the suggestion of 
Gen. Swift, and proposed that the old Norfolk Guards be invited 



4 INTRODUCTORY. 

to join in the parade. He thonght tlmt the two corps, representing 
the oldest niilitarv organizations of Koxbnr}', conld arrange a pro- 
gramme tliat would be acceptable to the citizens, and appropriately 
cai'ry out the idea suggested by Gen. Swift. A week was taken to 
consult with i)ast members of both the veteran companies, and the 
committee voted to invite the Norfolk Guards to co-operate, by the 
appointment of a committee, which was accepted. The connnittee 
of arrangements, as thus constituted, Avas composed as follows : — 



FROM THE ROXBURY CITY GUARD. 



Capt. B. Read Wales. 

2d Lieut. James R. Austin. 

Sergt. Isa.ac P. Gragg (Past Com.). 

Private F. C. t^rownell. 



1st Lieut. Wm. IL Hawley. 
Lieut. S. Wm. Dewey (Co. Staff). 
Corp. Darius F. Eddy. 
Private Wm. H. Hutchinson. 



Private (Jliai-les E. Osgood. 



FROM THE ROXBURY ARTILLERY ASSOCIATION. 



1 St Lt. Com. J. P. Jordan (Past Com. ). 
Jr. 2d Lieut. James H. Nugent. 
Capt. John A. Scott. 
Lieut. Wm. H. Mcintosh. 



Sr. 2(1 Lieut. Edwin R. Jenness 
Gen. Isaac S. Burrell. 
Capt. Henry A. Thomas. 
Sergt. ^Vm. IL Emery. 



Sergt. Henrv M. Jacol)s. 



FROM THE NORFOLK GUARDS. 



Capt. James Guild (Past Com.). 
John Dove. 
John F. Newton. 
Jonas Fillehrown. 



Joseph W. Tucker. 
J. Herman Curtis. 
Geo. W. Pierce. 
Geo. B. Davis. 



R. H. Wiswall. 



Various sul>coinmittees were appointed to arrange the several 
parts of the programme, and the date of tlie celebi-ation was first 
fixed for Novembei- l.")tli. Hon. William Gaston, ex-Governor of 
the Commonwealth and a former Mayor of Koxbury, consented to 
deliver an historical or.-ition, and the Standing Committee of the 
First Eeligious Society, Rev. (ieorge Putnam, D. D., pastor, voted 



INTRODUCTORY. O 

to allow the church to be used for that purpose. Mr. Samuel F. 
Williams, leader of the "Winthrop-street Methodist Church choir, 
volunteered to furnish a choir, and -Mr. T. M. Carter, leader of 
Carter's Band, became responsible for tlie organization of an old- 
fashioned bugle-band for the procession. Invitations were sent to 
the following-named organizations to participate in tlic procession : 
Encampment Thomas G. Stevenson Post 2G, G. A. R. ; Roxbury 
Horse Guards ; Past Members of the Reserve Guard ; Encamp- 
ments and Lodges of the Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias 
and Knights of Honor ; and the Battalions of the Roxbury- High 
and Latin Schools. General Isaac S. Burrell was chosen Chief 
Marshal of the Day, and he designated an efficient corps of Aids. 
An unexpected delav in the arrangements was caused by a fatal 
accident to the father-in-law of Hon. William Gaston, who was 
compelled to decline to deliver the oration. General Horace Bin- 
ney Sargent, of Salem, a former resident of Roxbury, reluctantl}' 
consented to prepare an oration during the brief time allowed, 
and mainl}^ to accommodate him the celebration was fixed one 
week later, viz., Nov. 22. When the anangements had thus far 
been completed, a sub-committee was authorized to publish in the 
two local papers — the " Home Journal" and the " Roxbury City 
Gazette " — and to mail two luuidred postal-card copies of the 
following: circular : — 



INTKODUCTORY. 



; 1776. 1876. 

OLD ROXBUR^ 



AND THE 



Gkhsttei^d^i^^il 1^e.a.:e^! 



To the Citizens of tlie Tomu of Roxbury : 

It being deemed eminently appropriate tliat the Centennial Tear should be 
observed in Koxbury, owing to the prominent part taken by its citizens in the 
events of ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, the undersigned have been delegated 
a snb-committee to announce to our fellow-citizens, that a committee of the Rox- 
tonry Artillery and City Guard, together with the Past Members of the 
IVorfolk Oiiarcl, have decided to inaugurate a 

ROXBURY CENTENNIAL DAY, 

TO BE OBSERVED ON 

TVEI>]VE©I>A.Y^, 1VOVE3J15T3TJ 33d, 

And to invite all jiersons interested to give the occasion their countenance and 
support. 

As far as arranged, the programme for the day will include a Military Pro- 
cession, an Oration Ijy OKIV. HORACE Bi:\:\EY SARGEAT, 

at the Church edifice of the first Religious Society (Dr. Putnam's), .and a 

NEW ENGLAND DINNER 

At some suitable Ilall, to be hereafter announced. 

A-ia Olcl-Tinic l^nglo Band 

Will accompany the procession, and tlie "Wintlirop Street (Methodist) Old 
Folks Clioir have volunteered to sing at the church. 

Other organizations will be invited to .appear in the procession, .and it is hoped 
the occasion maybe observed as a H.\IjF HOI..mAY. 

The Committee desire to dispose of a large number of DINNER TICKETS, 
and have th.at part of the progr.amme partake of the nature of a 

GRAND RE-UNION 



OLD ROXBURY CITIZENS. 

Fnrtber details will he perfected as early as possible. 

C.VTT. B. READ WALES, ) ^oxburv Citv Guard 
EIEUT. W. H. HAWLEY, i '^"^""i^.^ <-"> Guairt. 

GEN.' T.'^S.^BURIUIT^' ( K'«^'"r.V Artillery Association. 

JOS. W. TI'CKER. } T.T „<• II ^- „, 1 
.J NO. K. NEWTON, ) ^"'^"^^ ^^"•^"^- 



IXTKODl'CTORY. < 

For two days preceding the 22d day of November a severe rain- 
storm prevailed, and it was hoped that the third daj- would be 
pleasant. This did not prove to be the ease. The morning 
of " Roxbury Da}-" was cloudy, fogg}- overhead and muddy 
uaderfoot, Avith occasional thick mists. By noon there was a 
favorable change, and, although the clouds obscured the sun. no 
rain fell during the out-door exercises. The programme was fully 
carried out as pre\ioush' arranged. 

The Roxbury Cit}' Guard and the Roxbury Artillery Associa- 
tion met at their armory in A\^ebster Hall ; the Norfolk Guards, 
the Grand Arm}- Post and the Reserved Guard met at Dudley' 
Hall ; and the Knights of Pythias assembled at their hall at noon. 



THE PROCESSION. 

The procession was formed at half-past one o'clock, P. M., on 
Washington street, wuth the right resting near the site of the old 
fortifications at the corner of Williams street, in the following 
order : — 

Platoon ok Police, under Capt. Joseph Hastings, of Station 9. 

Vetekans of the Old Night Watch of Eoxbuet. — ^^ William I). Cook. 
Solomon Sanborn, Manly D. Butler, George R. Matthews, Morrill P. 
Berry, Samuel Mcintosh, Canberry Litchfield. Silas Dole, J. ]M. Swett. 

Marshals. — General Isaac S. Burrell, chief; Major George Curtis, Capt. 
John A. Scott, Capt. Isaac P. Gragg, and L. Foster Morse, Esqs., Aids. 

Carter's Centennial Band. — T. M. Carter, leader; composed of a portion 
of the regular Carter's Band, with Joseph Green, of Providence, E. H. 
Weston, Alonzo Bond, George Kinsley, and John Ballard, veteran 
musicians. 

Roxbury City Guard. — Capt. B. Read Wales, with honorary staff, consisting 
of Lieut.-Col. Nathaniel Wales, Major William A. Smith, Adj't H. B. 
Parker, Quartermaster Wm. H. Jones, of the staff of the First Battalion 
of Infantry, M. V. M. ; the company staff consisting of Past Commander 
Charles G. Davis, Lieuts. F. J. Ward, C. B. Rohan and A. W. Hersey, 
and Dr. G. T. Perkins ; —fifty rifles in line. The company Avore the gray 
regimental uniform, bearskin hats, and white cross-belts. The color- 
guard wore the Artillery Company uniform of gray, trimmed with scarlet, 
and gray shako. 



^ IXTRODUCTORY. 

Jioxiu'itY Aktilleuy Association. — 1st Lictit. J. F. Jordan, commanding: 
Senior 2d Liont. Edwin R. Jonncss : Junior ]st I.ient. James H. Kugent. 
Commander's staff, Lutlier "\V. Bixby, Adjutant; Dr. Wm. H. Emery, 
Surgeon; 3Iajors W. C. Capelle and Cliarles A. Davis; Captains Henry 
A. Thomas, Joseph Knower, Edwin Adams; Lieutenants John P. 
Kohinson, and Isaac Chase, First 15attalion of Artillery, M. V. M. ; 
Sergeants Wm. T. ]\Iacarty, John Brooks, Benj. Noyes ; — sixty men in 
line. They were in citizen's dress, wearing slouched artillery hats, sabres 
and wliite belts. Tlu'v appeared as old foot artillery, with two iS-pound 
brass field pieces, loaned by the First Battalion of Artillery, M. V. M., 
by permission of the State authorities. 

NoiM'oLic Gr.vRDs Association. — Capt. James (Juild, 1st Lieut. John II. 
Brookhousc, 2d Lieut. Charles M. Jordan, 1st Sergt. Jonas Fillebrown, 
2d Sergt. John F. Newton, 3d Sergt. R. H. Wiswall, 4th Sergt. George B. 
Davis, 1st Corp. D. C. Bates, 2d Corp. Joseph CuUigan, 3d Corp. Benj. 
F. Stone, 4th Corp. Edward Sumner, and seventy men in the ranks. The 
officers wore swords and belts, and the privates appeared in citizen's dress, 
Avith high black hats. They were accompanied Ijy Daniel Simpson, aged 
86 ; Jonathan Stanley, aged 7G ; and Joseph B. Treat, aged 56, veteran 
drnnrmers, secured for the occasion. 

Reskhvkd Glmrds. — Col. Edward Wyman, connnander; — twenty-five men. 

Thomas G. Stevkksox Post No. 26, Grand Army of the Republic. — Rob- 
ert Bampton, Jr., commander ; C. C. Randall, Jr., Vice Commander; 
James B. Gardner, Adjutant; Frank B. Perkins, Quartermaster; P. 
( )"Meara Edson, Surgeon; Kobt. (t. Seymour, Chaplain; J. JNI. Shoe- 
maker, Officer of the Guard; Hiram A. Wright, Sergeant Major; John 
L. Perkins, Q. M. Sergeant. The following Past Commanders of the Post 
appeared as staff": — Col. Giles H. Rich, Col. S. A. Bolster, Capt. John 
E. Killian: — fifty men. The members wore the regulation Grand Army 
hats and badges. 

Mas.sachusetts Lodge, Knights of Pythias. — William A. Blossom, Chan- 
cellor Commander, and fifty men, wearing the regalia of the order, and 
preceded by Gilligan's Band. 

Detachments of the Roxriry' School Battaltons, organized for the 
occasion; — composed of members of the Hoxbury Tiatin and English 
High Schools, fifty muskets, under conunand of the foUowing officers : 
Major J. L. Amory ; Adj't R. Long; (Quartermaster N. C. Fowler; Cap- 
tains W. A. Steidiens, (J. H. Williams: Lieuts. A. Bacon, W. A. Graham. 
P. IMorse, G. H. L. Sharpe. 

Roxmuv Horse (irAUU (on foot). — Capt. Aaron A. Hall; First Lieut. 
Wm. B. Femu'r;^ fifty men. They wore the company uniform of scarlet 
coats, felt lielmets, with white fountain plumes. 



Invited Guksts in Carriages. — His Extellency Alexander II. Rice, 
Governor of the Commonwealth ; Colonels AVm. V. llutchings and Wm. A. 
Tower, of the Governor's staff; General Horace Binney Sarjjent, Orator of 
the Day ; Rev. John 0. Means, D. Y>., and Rev. Henry M. King, Chaplains 
of the Day; Hon. John S. Sleeper, Hon. John J. Clarke, and Hon. George 
Lewis, former Mayors ofRoxhury; Hon. William A. Simmons, Collector 
of the Port of Boston; His Honor Samuel C. Cohh, Mayor of Boston; 
Hon. John T. Clark, Chairman of the Board of Aldermen of Boston ; 
Hon. John Q. A. Brackett, President of the Common Council of Boston ; 
Alderman Francis Thompson, of Boston; Gen. John L. Swift, Gen. 
E. W. Stone, Col. William Raymond Lee, Lieut. 01)ed Rand, William 
Fenton, Esq., formerly City Messenger ofRoxhury; Joseph W. Tucker, 
formerly Town and City Clerk of Roxhury. 



THE ROTTTE. 

The procession moved promptly :it2 o'clock, i)assing up Warren 
street, past the birthplace of Gen. Joseph AN'arren (which was 
saluted with cheers), and through Moreland, (ircenvillc and Dudley 
streets to Guild Row, and thence into Koxbury street, lialting with 
the right in front of the church of the First Keligious Society. 
During the march, the ears of older residents were charmed Avith 
such suggestive airs as " White Cockade," "O Lassie, art thou 
sleeping yet?" -'Yankee Doodle," " Capt. Brown's March," and 
"On the Road to Boston," which Carter's Band performed with 
old-time vigor and modern excellence combined. Despite the 
unfavorable weather, there was a general suspension of business 
and congregating on the line of march by citizens and residents to 
view the procession. The veterans of the Norfolk (iuards and 
Roxbury Artillery were the recipients of enthusiastic plaudits from 
every quarter. 

The column halted facing the old historic sanctuary, and was 
reviewed by the Governor and invited guests, who at once alighted 
and passed into the church. 



THE EXERCISES AT THE CHUECH. 



The venerable buikliiigof the First Congregational Society 
was tilled to its utmost capacity. His Excellency Hon. 
Alexander H. Kice, Governor of IMassachusetts ; the mem- 
bers of his statf ; Hon. William Gaston, ex-Governor of the 
State; His Honor Samuel C. Cobb, Mayor of Boston; Hon. 
John T. Clark, Chairman of the Board of Aldermen; Hon. 
John Q. A. Brackett, President of the Common Council ; 
Alderman Francis Thomas ; Hon. William A. Simmons, 
Collector of the Port of Boston, occupied the seats imme- 
diately in front of the pulpit, on the left of the centre 
aisle. The Chief Marshal and staft' were seated in chairs 
in the aisle, in front of the pulpit. The Roxbury Artillery 
Association occupied the front part of the middle tier, and 
behind them were the membeis of the Grand Army. In 
the next tier, on the right, Avere the veterans of the Norfolk 
Guards. The left middle tier was allotted to the Roxbury 
City Guard, and the next tier on the left to the Knights of 
Pythias, in front, and the Roxbury Horse Guards. The band 
and the choir were in the front gallerjs and the side galleries 
and seats beneath w^ere filled with citizens and their ladies. 
The following-named gentlemen acted as ushers : George 
O. Fillebrowne, George E. Hall, S. Walter Wales, Henry 
Bliss, William H. Trcdick. In front of the pulpit was a 
choice collection of exotics, furnished by Messrs. Calder c*t 
Wis wall. 

The Hon. John J. Clarke, the first Mayor of the City 
of Roxbury, presided, and with him iu the pulpit were 



12 KOXBIJKV CE^'TE^'^IAL. 

General Horace Binney Sargent, the orator of the da}', 
and the Kevs. Henry M. King and Jolni O. Means, D. D. 

The exercises began with tiie singing of the " Ode on 
Science," ))y the Old Folks Choir of the AVinthrop-street 
]\Ietlii)dist Church, led by Mr. H. W. Bowen, and supported 
l)y Carter's Instrumental Band, T. ]M. Carter, leader: — 



■ The morning sun shines from tlie east, 
And spreads its glories to tlie west; 
All nations with his heams are blest 
Where'er his radiant light appears. 

• So Science spreads her lucid ray 
O'er lands that long in darkness lay ; 
She visits fair Columbia. 
And sets her suns amnngtlie stars. 

■ Fair Freedom, her attendant, -waits 
To bless the portals of her gates. 

To crown the young and rising States 
With laurels of immortal day. 

' The IJritish yoke, tlie Gallic chain. 
Was urged iipon her sons in vain ; 
All haughty tyrants we disdain, 

And shout. ' Long live America I " " 



PRAYER BY KEY. HEXKY M. KING. 

Thou, who art our God, as Thou wast our fathers' God, we, 
neighbors and fellow-citizens, are assembled on this solemn festi- 
val, in this veuerable house of prayer, to acknowledge Th}- good- 
uess to us ill (lays gone by, and humbly to imi)lore Thy blessing 
for days tt) come. From everlasting to everlasting Thou art God, 
aud with Thee a thousaiid years are but as a single day ; Thou 
kuowest neither l)cgiuuiiig nor end of days. As we turn our 
thoughts backward through the period of a hundred years, they 
rest not upon the living, but upon the dead, upon those who did 
well the work of lile, aud were laid away iu honored graves ; 



ROXBUKY CENTENNIAL. 13 

and Avc, their children and their children's children, render Thee 
our hearty thanks to-da^', O God, for tlie intelligent patriotism of our 
fathers, for their patience, their wise building, and their self-denials, 
the fruits of which have been preserved to us through the fidelity 
and sacrifices of their successors ; and as the persons, and the 
events, and the scenes of a hundred years shall be made to pass 
before our view to-da^' in vivid and rapid succession, we pray Thee 
that Thou wilt help us to gather lessons of wisdom from the teach- 
ings of the past ; and may we be made to have a truer and humbler 
faith in God as we trace Thy hand so distinctly in our local and 
national histor}' ; ma}' we be led to a higher appreciation of the 
great blessings which have been conferred upon us ; and may we 
gather inspiration from these memories, that we may be the more 
patient in the performance of duty, and the more sensitive to all 
personal . obligations, that we may b(; true to our convictions of 
right, and truly loyal to our country and to Thee. And we beseech 
Thee that Thou wilt help us to be more enlarged in our hearts, in 
the love of God, in the love of country', in the love of purity, and 
the love of home. And now we thank Thee that the lines have 
fallen to us in pleasant places, and that we have a goodly heritage. 
We thank Thee that Thou hast made beautiful the place of our 
dwelling ; that Thou hast covered the rocky pasture lands of other 
days with many flowers ; that Thou hast filled these valle^-s and 
these hills with homes which are tlie abodes of peace, of virtue, and 
of comfort. We thank Thee that Thou liast made green the graves 
of our loved ones, and sustained our mourning hearts with the hope 
of the resurrection. We thank Thee that Tliou hast multiplied our 
schools and our churches, and that we and our children have the 
inestimable blessings of the Christian religion and the advantages 
of a good education. We thank Thee that Tliou hast made piet}', 
and integrit}-, and intelligence honorable in this community. Wfe 
tliank Thee that here Thou hast rewarded industry and enterprise, 
and tliat the labor of our hands has been blessed by Thee. Surel}- 
Tliou hast not dealt Avith us according to our sins, nor rewarded us 
according to our iniquities ; forTiiou hast not only given to us Jesus 
Christ to be our Saviour, but Thou hast also, with Him, freely given 
us all things. Now we pray Thy blessing to rest upon this da}- 
and its services ; upon these citizens who are gathered together ; 



14 KOXBUHY GE>fTENNIAL. 

to rest upon our lioines, our .schools, and our churches ; to 
rest u[)0n tlie lair cuty of which we have become a part, 
aud u[)on tlie houoied Commonwealth under whose protection 
we live. And forget not, we beseech Thee, to grant peculiar 
grace and wisdom to those persons whom we have elected 
to positions of high responsibilit}' and trust in city and state and 
nation. Extend Thy blessing to our whole country-, we pray Thee, 
which Thou hast made great among the nations of the earth. We 
entreat Thee to deliver us from all onr present agitations, and let 
wise and just, peaceful and righteous, counsels prevail ; and God 
grant that eveiywhere the principles of righteousness and of truth 
may be accepted, and that the voice of the people may be heard, 
and iccognized, and may prove to be the voice of God. Be pleased, 
O God, to foigive us all our sins, and to accept the service which 
we bring, enabling ns to dedicate ourselves anew to-day to the high 
interests of religion and freedom. And to Tii^ name, Father, Son 
and Spirit, shall be all the praise, forever. Amen. 



The choir snug " The Star-Spaugled Banner," and the 
oration was delivered. 



OEATION. 

B Y GEN. ir O R A C K B 1 N if E Y S A \i (i E N T . 

The Avord, antiquity, has many shades of meaning. Hux- 
ley, surveying the evidence of JBons past, thrills us with his 
vast expression, "the momentaiy appearance of mankind 
u2)on the earth." In contrast with this scale of thought, the 
two hundred and forty-six years, since this old town began, 
are less than a tljish of light. 

But the centuries of a people arc^ to bo measured by the 
facts of liMUian achievement, 'i'lio tweuty-two centuries of 
Grecian history, from Argos to Alaric, are nothing Avhen 
compared with a single glacial period. But, to the his- 
toiian, only fifty of those years are an Olympian Age : 
because they are immortal, with Herodotus, and Pericles, 
ThermopAdee, Salamis, and Marathon. 

We are the heirs of all the ages ; and the two and a halt 
centuries since the settlement of Xew England are venerable 
with toil and triumph. 

If we would understand the triumph of wrenching our- 
selves away from England, and develoi)ing thirteen feeble 
colonies into a nation of forty millions, resting on the two 
great oceans, and stretching from the Antilles to the Arctic 
sea, we can never study that toil too nnuh. Within eight 
hundred years England has known forty attempts at rclx'l- 
lion : and France has played at revolution again and again. 



16 ROXBUEY CEXTENMAL. 

It is not strange that Americans should try to discover, 
among tlie embers of the past, the materials of a conflagra- 
tion so intense that it melted the chains of empire. These 
materials are the traits of cJiaracter and mind that the 
Puritans stamjied on unhorn generations. Other revolu- 
tit)ns, geneially, have been deficienf in that coxibination 
of close logical reasoning, reverence for legal authority, 
intense conviction, and unflinching assertion of a right, 
which marks our own. (3ther revolutions, the result of 
intense heat, difler from this, as the ebullition which lifts 
the thin cover from a kettle ditfers from an earthquake, 
which, gathering its forces in silence for a thousand years, 
under a mountain's weight, suddenly changes the face of the 
Avorld. 

Honest pride commemorates a revolt which had so little 
of fury and so much of power. And we ask, why was this? 

From the inii)ortance of Roxbury in the elder time, from 
her decisive position as a pass to be defended in the siege of 
Boston, and from her contributions of calm counsel and 
fiery valor to the revolutionary cause, she is entitled to 
a nation's grateful memory. Her early history is unusuall}'^ 
replete with those personal traits, and that tntense educa- 
tion, which seem to me to explain the Kevolution as a 
success. 

liocksberry, or Ivocksborough, was one of the earliest 
Puritan settlements. Some, of its primitive inhabitants 
came out with Governor Winthrop, in the armed vessel 
Arabella that war[)ed into Salem Harbor fJune 14, 1G30. 

AVhether previous settlers, of the same adventure (there 
were seventeen ships that year), first brokc^ the ground of 



KOXP.IRY CENTENNIAL. 17 

Koxbury, is not quite clear. But a month and more before 
Governor Wiiithrop arrived, the " mercilesse " Capt. Squeb, 
of the "jNlary and John," left a little body of church mem- 
bers from Dorchester, Enoland, " in a forlorn wilderness" 
at Nantasket, Avhence the}' Avorked their Avay to their orig- 
inal destination, then called by the Indians " Mattapan." 

So t\ir as can be learned from (he Koxbury Church 
records, ^Ir. George Alcock, being joined to the church in 
Dorchester, was iirst chosen to be a Deacon, especially to 
the Brethren at Rocksborongh ; and ultimately, with Wil- 
liam Pynchon, Thomas Lamb, Thomas Rawlings, Robert 
Cole and AVilliam Chase, founded this first church in Rox- 
bur}' in 1632. Before that time the Roxbury people were 
adjoined to the church in Dorchester. 

Thomas Dudley, who, while the ship Aral)ella lay off 
Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, had been chosen Deputy Gov- 
ernor in place of Humphrey, resigned, narrates in a letter 
to the Countess of Lincoln Ihe story of weakness and fam- 
ine, in which the colony that had been sent out two years 
before was found. He says they were "for present shelter" 
obliged "to plant dispersedly," and that some planted them- 
selves "two miles from Boston, in a place Avec named 
Roxbury." And here he afterwards settled. A little fall- 
ing out with Governor Winthrop occurred. It is a little 
like reading Homers story of the contentions among the 
Olympian gods, to read that on this occasion, "the Deputy 
be2:an to ))e in a passion, and told the Governour that if he 
would be so round, he could be round, too. The Governour 
bade him be round if he would. So the Deputy rose up in 
great fury and passion, and the Governour grew very hot 



18 ROXBUllY CENTENNIAL. 

also, so as tliey both fell into bitterness. But Ijj mediation 
of the mediators they were soon pacified." 

At iirst it was proposed to build a fortified town on the 
Neck between Boston and lloxbury. But want of " run- 
nino- water ■■ there, as well as at Charlestowne, then called 
Newtowne, prevented. For " they notioned no water good 
for a town but running springs." 

It is remarkable, that, though at an early period Jamaica 
pond was used as a power for a mill to grind bread, its 
water, which for many years supplied the later inhabitants, 
did not invite an early settlement upon its shores. 

July 31, 1(531, Rocksberry is ordered to furnish nightly 
two men to the Boston Watch. And that thorn in the side 
of our fathers. Captain John Underbill, the same who 
claimed an influx of the Holy Spirit while he was indulging 
in " 3'e earthely creature called tol)acko,"' was ordered to have 
a general training of his company at Boston and llocksberry. 
In the old time the training-field lay between what are 
now Eustis street, Dudley street, and jMount Pleasant. 

^^'illiam \Yood, in 1G33, thus describes the general lay of 
the laud: "A mile from this town'' (Dorchester), which is 
stated to be "the greatest town in New England, well 
wooded and watered," "lieth Roxbnry, which is a fair and 
handsome country town ; the inhabitants of it all being very 
rich. A clear and fresh brook runs through the town." 
This brook, then called Smelt brook, now runs thi-oiigh the 
connnon sewer near Washington and Dudley streets. Bos- 
ton is described as " a peninsula hemmed in on the south 
side by the bay of Roxbnry, and on the north side by 
Charles river, the marshes on the back side being not half a 



TiOXBURY CENTENNIAL. 19 

quarter of a mile over ; so that a little fencing will secure 
their cattle from the wolves." 

Wolves were a constant dread, and one night Boston and 
Eoxburv turned out under arms in alarm all nio:ht, because 
tho people of Watertown fired their muskets off to deter the 
wolves from approaching too near a lost calf of Sir Richard 
Saltonstall's. 

Our fathers had too man}'' "low country " soldiers in their 
company not to maintain the military arm. The church 
founder and Treasurer, William Pynchon, is ''desired" to 
give a newly appointed ensigne "possession thereof I " Two 
barrels of powder out of Roxbury, and two " drakes " 
are "lent to Conecticott to fortifv themselves with all." 

In I grrrrjhr all the military men of Boston, Roxbury, Dor- 
chester, Weymouth and Ilingham are ordered to form one 
regiment, under John Winthrop as Colonel and Thomas 
Dudley as Lieutenant Colonel. The first regiment was 
certainly very creditably provided with ofiicers. 

TW'O years before, Ensign Morris, from some distaste, 
desired to resign. Therel)y he "gave offence to the congre- 
gation." x" Being questioned and convinced of sin in forsak- 
ing his calling," he " did acknowledge his error." He was 
promoted to a lieutenancy. 

We cannot be too grateful to the old Puritans that, while 
they trusted in God, they kept their pow^der dry. The 
military organizations that honor this occasion by their 
presence to-day, the old Roxbury Artillery of 1784, the 
Rox])ury City Guard, the Norfolk Guards of 1818, the 
Grand Army of the Republic, and the Latin School Bat- 
talion, the Reserve Guards and Roxbury Horse Guards 



20 EOXBUltY CENTENNIAL. 

of our later time, will jiUow me to call their attention to the 
fact, that in those good old times the ver\^ tirst and a1)lest 
and most devout men telt it a duty to accept a military 
connnand. Perhaps two of our military bodies that have 
disappeared, a lioxbury Horse Guard that was in existence a 
little while after the Revolution, and the Warren Light 
Infantry, trusted too little to " the covenant of works." Not 
a gala-day enthusiasm or skill in the gynmastics of a musket, 
good as they both are, make the soldier; but discipline and 
drill. Society, in the face of the resistant forces that 
abound to threaten its peace, is criminal in not suppcjrting 
by vigorous regular army legislation the brave men who, in 
the face of obloquy or indifference, tr}" to maintain military 
organizations. To-day, at least, we will recollect that with 
the Puritan settlers " Liberty meant Law," and Law relied 
on an armed force behind it. The best authority in this 
nation has asserted that the etlicient use of a single In'igade 
would have prevented our late civil war. And yet mad- 
ness, in the garb of economy, is likely to reduce ns 
to impotence again. A false economy may be the 
worst e xtra vagance . 

After the Revolution the Roxbury Artillery, now the 
City Guards, was formed, and John Jones Spooner, a 
gentleman of the best position and character, afterward 
a clergyman, was elected conmiandcr. This corps did good 
service in the disturbance known as Shay's rebellion. At 
the time of the Boston tire, 1872, the present organization, 
foi- thirteen days and nights, guarded the persons and 
pro[)erty of the city against apprehended violence. Peace 
has its honors as well as war ; and to-day this corps and its 



ROXHUllY CENTENNIAL. 21 

old commander, Capt. Isaac Paul Graair, who deserves com- 
memoration, are attempting to rescue the old history of 
Eoxbury from ol)livion, b}- forming a special historical 
society for the old town. It is to his efforts, in large 
measure, that Ave owe this celebration, and the fact that 
Roxbury had any military re[)resentation at the grand 
anniversary of Lexington last year. 

Not only did the Puritans of this old town train them- 
selves to arms. With famine in their faces and the savasfe 
at their doors, they entered into covenant, onl}- thirteen 
years after the town was settled, and pledged their houses 
and farms and lands to maintain " The Free Schoole in 
Roxburie." They lived in the age when the sentence was 
uttered, that to be a founder of States was chief of glories. 
And they knew that education of tJieJiead and Jieart tofjelher 
was the corner-stone of a State. It Avas a necessity that the 
descendants of such men should ])uild a structure on that 
corner-stone. It is fitting that we, who have seen that 
" Free Schoole " become an opulent power in the United 
States, say a gratefid word for the men of 1()30, who 
defended this nation in the Revolution and the Rebellion, 
by founding it on intelligence two hundred and thirty-one 
years ago. 

It is two hundred and eight years since Mr. John Prudden 
of Roxbury engaged to "instruct in all scholastic-all, morall 
and theologicall discipline." At first, it would seem that 
scholars who did not bring two feet of wood, or a certain 
sum of money, were not to come near the lire ; and after- 
ward, the master was not to instruct such scholars. If they 
studied Virgil then, how thev must have sniveled throusfh 



22 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

the prophetic hexameter, in which the poet laments that 
]\Iantu;i was so near Cremona. The verse eminently applies 
to Koxbnrv, so near to Boston in the Revolntionary war; 
and still later, w^hen the seven hnndred acres of Boston have 
swallowed the eleven thousand of Roxbur}', in a way that 
Avould have given to Pliaraoh a nightmaav, instead of a 
dream. 

If it were not that a most competent author, INIr. Francis 
G. Drake, has now a history of Roxbiiry in hand, there 
would be danger of losing a large part of the traditional 
history of a town which existed as a town two hundred and 
lifteen 3'ears, from 1(j31 to 184(5; which then, in 1851, 
became a city, of which the distinguished President of the 
day was the first ISlayor ; and which was then absorbed in 
two parcels, in 18(38 and 1874, when the part, annexed, con- 
tained near 29,000 people, by its little neighbor of Boston. 
A hundred years before the first annexation the whole town 
contained about 1,500 people. 

A little attempt may be made to-night to show those 
dominant traits of our fathers which explain the success of 
the Revolution. In this attempt I have been indel)ted to the 
Alassachusetts Historical Society, and have availed myself 
of the valua])le labors of Messrs. Ellis, C. R. Dillaw^ay, 
Franklin Williams, F. G. Drake and others. But a local 
Historical Society should be fin-med to gather the vanishing 
material around the names of Eliot and Dndley and Eustis 
and Shirley and Sumner and Lowell and Dearl)orn, the 
authors, the pastors, the physicians, the soldiers, the 
patriotic men and women of this town. The birthplace of 



ROXBUKV CKXTENNIiVL. 23 

Warren surely deserves a Historical Society of its own. 1 
believe the harvest is white. 

It would be curious to collect evidence, that, in conse- 
quence of the presence of the Court in Boston, the Puritan 
sentiment of religious fervor, the iutellectual habit of acute 
religious reasoning, and the sternness of manner that charac- 
terized the early settlers and produced traits conspicuous in 
the devolution, were exhibited to a later period in Koxbury 
than in Boston, I think we should learn the philosophy of a 
conduct which seems to have as much vigor, and as little 
violence as was shoAvn by any community in the llevolution. 

When "morall and theologicall discipline"' was the business 
of life, religious fervor was the prevailing tone ; self-control 
the prevailing habit, and logical discussion of religious 
questions the chief amusement ! The first pastor of this 
church was one of the sternest combatants in that contro- 
versy of opinion and logic which drove Governor Codding- 
ton, Ro2:er Williams and Mrs. Hutchinson out of Massachu- 
setts. We see something to-day of the excitement among 
clergy and lait}' which a discussion of physical evolution 
creates. But Avhen, in an age which had no intellectual ex- 
citement l)ut religious discussions, Mrs. Hutchinson broached 
the idea of a spiritual evolution, by which, through the influx 
of the Hoi}' Spirit, man became an immortal creature, men 
drew their sharpest texts on each other and ran them into 
their antagonists up to the hilt. But, though logic was 
suffered to cut as deep as it might, the softest Christian 
phrase and mien prevailed. Brethren who believed, and 
perhaps a little hoped, that other lirelhren would — not be 
saved, — ''admonished them in love." It Mas an age of 



24 KOXBUKY CENTENNIAL. 

spiritual hull-baiting. "But it was an age of sclt-eonti-ol." 
Everything was relegated to the Bil)l(?, and squared hy 
''Moses his judicials." But no Spanish Pieador was ever 
more drlighted, when he plunged a ticry dart neatly behind 
the ear of a bailed bull, than was the conseientious and honest 
Re\('rend Thomas W'ehle, when he could transfix one of Mrs. 
Ilutehinson's texts, full of hope in the Holy Spirit, l)y a 
'' cross text " of despair. 'Tasts for strife and debate were 
held," when hungry clergymen wrestled, ostensibly, in 
l)rayer, 1)ut, really, with some other clergymen. Even 
little children, with squeaky voices, debated Avhether their 
|)arents, respectively, " stood for a covenant of grace " or "for 
a covenant of works." The holiest men, boilini;' with indio- 
nation at the heresies of their op})oneiits, enforced on them- 
selves the calm exterior of (Quakers. Governor AMnthrop, 
writing to some who su})ported Mrs. Hutchinson, says : 

" Beloved Brethren, ... I hope soon, by God's assistance, to 
make it appear what wrong had been done to the Court, yea, and to the 
truth itself, by your rasli, unwarranted and seditious delinquency. 

. . Your loving Brother, J. W." 

Under a guise of perfect serenity the people were seeth- 
ing. The excitement had some monstrous consequences 
iq)on the liealth of women, as the old records curiously tell. 
It lasted for years, ajid even aifected the phrases and tone 
of generations. It nnist have aifected the embiyonic nation, 
and its libri; and functions. 

When in the great (k'ntennial Hall we sec the central 
engine moving in awful silence, like a force ot the universe, 



KOXBUEY CENTENNIAL. 25 

we know that compression as well as heat is the source of 
that vast engine's power. Even the very coal, that is its 
food, Avould have passed off in powerless gases, if mountains 
had not overhiid the decomposing forests. In like manner, 
I)y the enforced habit of repression and calmness, energy 
was stored up in oui- very lihres, till steam was needed for 
a revohition that was, in some degree, to equalize the 
condition of men. 

Even in the trivial early legislation of Roxlniry the 
principle is manifested that men were expected to restrain 
themselves. Men were not to be softly helped to Heaven 
by the removal of temptation. The nettle, danger, was to 
be boldly grasped and crushed by self-control. The 
muscles of moral nature were called into strong exercise by 
exposure to temptation and punishment for a fall. 

For examples : the Deputy Governor, writing to the 
Countess of Lincoln, praises the excellence of the water, 
gravely adding, " until] wine and beare canue be had;" to 
which end he said they proposed the next season to use the 
wild grapes. 

At a Court held :\Iarcli 4, 1633, ''It is ordered that Rob- 
ert Coles, for drunkenes, by him comitted at Roxbury, 
shall be disfranchised, wearc al)out his necke, and soe to 
hange upon his outward garm', a D made upon redd cloath 
and sett upon white : to contynue this for a yeare, and not 
to leave it of att any tyme when he comes amongst com- 
pany," etc.; and "to wear the D outward." But the 
instances are many where parties are allowed to "draw 
wine " or " l)care," or to sell strong water. 

Yet the Puritans dreaded excitements. There was a con- 
4 



26 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

sidcrahlc disarming of certain religionists. Among those 
disarmed, rive Koxl)ury men are ordered to give np all their 
arms, powder, shot and match, lest as disciples of Mr. 
VVheehvright and Mrs. Hutchinson, the}'^ may "upon some 
revelation make some suddaine irruption upon those that 
differ from them in judgment." Our fathers feared a ""rev- 
elation" more than rum. 

While repressing the slightest outbreak of intolerance in 
others, that generation " tj^ed to the cart tayle," stripped, 
and whip[)ed, with from ten to twenty stripes, through the 
towns of Boston, Koxbury and Dedham, poor wretches, 
indicted for being Quakers, and not saying even '' Yea " or 
" Nay " to the Court. It is no wonder that a Quaker quietly 
vented his feelings by a tract entitled, " A sigh of sorrow 
for the sinners of Zion, breathed out of a hole in the wall of 
an earthly vessel, known among men by the name of Samuel 
Fish." 

The stern repression of feeling in that fervid age cannot 
be better marked than by the fact that such a scene of tor- 
ture took place in Roxbury street ])efore the doors of the 
most angelic man of the time, — the second pastor of 
this church ; of whose tender charity it is related that, 
because he could not easily untie the knots of the handker- 
chief, in which the good town treasurer had purposely tied 
up the pastor's salary, to prevent him from giving it away 
before he should reach his own somewhat destitute home, 
the pastor gave it — handkerchief and all — to a poor 
woman, saying, with tears and trembling accents, "Here! 
Take it, my dear ! 1 believe the Lord designs it all for 
you." The town treasurer is not the first or last man who 



UOXBUltY CENTENNIAL. 27 

has defeated his own beiiovok'ut iiitentions by tying up 
funds too tightly. Nor do I wonder that the pastor's heart 
was lighter, if he always received his salary in the form 
indicated by a town receipt of April 8, 1G73 : — 

"Received of Colo. Williams, of the Feoffees of the Grammar School, 
a Bag of Coppers, weight, thirty-four jiounds, in part of my salary for 
the year current, the same being by estimation, £4.' 13. 4. lawful 
money, and for which I am to be accountable. 

" I say, received in j)art. 

"JOHN ELIOT." 

One wonders how, in an age of stern repression tof all 
iesthetic elements, Eliot's beautiful charity could bloom. 
Men were forced up to religious observance under its most 
unattractive form. To warm a church was deemed a wile 
of tlie devil. The first little church upon this hill had 
neither shingle, plaster, gallery, pew nor spire. Its benches 
were plain ; and to make it as little like Paradise as possi- 
ble, the men and women sat apart ! 

One of the sternest of polemical divines, the Rev. Thomas 
Welde, of Tirliug, in Essex, England, "after many impar- 
lances and days of humiliation by those of Roxbury, to seek 
the Lord, for Mr. Welde his disposing," was ordained first 
pastor in July, 1632. Of resolute non-conformity, though 
educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, England, he had 
excited Bishop Laud's anger. Thomas Shepard says he afid 
Welde and others, speaking one day of Laud,/' consulted 
whether it was best to let such a swine root up God's 
plants in Essex, and not to give him some check." Mr. 



28 KOXBUKY CENTENNIAL. 

Welde, thereupon, soon found an officer of the law after 
himself. He came to America, and, as pastor, exhorted 
and ruled ten years, when he returned to England with 
Hugh Peters, the Eegicide Judge. When I reflect that Mr. 
Welde called the virtuous and half-inspired Anne Hutchin- 
son " The American Jezebel," because of her peculiar views 
about "grace " and "works" and the " Holy Ghost," though 
he might have borrowed the phrase from Josselyn, I think 
an " exhortation " in his roughest style of piety must have 
been a little like a drum-head court martial. But no one 
who would understand the intellectual and moral iil)re of 
the Boxbury men, who a hundred and thirty years later 
applied inexorable logic to their chartered rights, and 
calmly pressed Parliament and King liackward to the sol- 
emu end of battle, can overlook or easil}^ overrate the 
probable efiect of such honest and inexorable ministrations for 
ten years, in an age when a calm face veiled spiritual ago- 
nies, and the gospel of peace was the skirmish line of a war 
that l)rought Charles I. to the scaftbld. The stern mental 
influence of Mr. Welde over this people probably continued 
after he went with Hugh Peters to England. 

His correspondence undoubtedly continued to his death, 
in 1GG2. But, if it did not, his colleague, John Eliot, a 
man whose sixty years of pastorate were an example of 
(juiet courage and intense purpose, supplied his place in 
educating men to the calm pursuit of a determined end. 
He, too, was polemic enough to confront jNIrs. Hutchinson 
and her supporters. He taught tw^o generations of the men 
whom our "revolutionary sires" called their "Puritan ances- 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 29 

tors." With infinite toil translating the Bible into a lan- 
guage without an alphabet, he then M'^ent out into the forest, 
with a heart as tender as a wonuin and as brave as the lion 
of Judah. 

The five nations could place near twenty thousand Avar- 
riors in battle before the earlier New England settlements ; 
and a formidable array remained. King Philip, who 
refused to treat with any but " my Brother King Charles of 
England," and detested the white man, told Eliot that he did 
not " care a button for the Gospel." But Eliot went on as 
if the words of Isaiah were thundered in his ear, " Fear 
NOT, thou worm Jacol:) ! For I the Lord thy God wi^l hold 
thy right hand, saying unto thee, Feak not ! I Avill help 
thee ! " 

It is sad to think that Eliot's Jndiau policy would have 
saved poor Custer's life and prevented most of our Indian 
wars. Mr. Eliot would never have made the Indian a fiend, 
and then whined over a fair, square Indian fight and terrible 
victory as a " massacre."' He thought that one "season of 
hunting"' undid his missionary work. He would have the 
Indians forced into some kind of civil society, and taken 
from their wild ways of living. " One season of hunting 
makes them complete Indians." Our Congress has begun 
at the wrong end. 

Like all enthusiastic men who live nuich with nature, he 
had some comical notions. And one of them illustrates 
that one feature of the age, which so much aflccted the 
logical men who in 17G5 tried the claims of Parliament l)y 
the square and level of chartered rights. It was a logical 
ajje. The sermons and discussions were lessons in acute 



80 noxBiTRY ct:ntennial. 

reasoniiif^ on subjects that fired the heart. Logic Avas their 
opera and drama. 

Mr. Eliot ilhistiates this areat peculiarity of that time by 
proposing a school of logic and theology for the Indians of 
Natick. A logical Indian, with a keen perce[)tion of final 
causes and armed with a tomahawk, would be a new terror 
in Indian war. And I should distrust Sitting Bull and 
Spotted Tail as theologians. 

JMy fair hearers will also be displeased, perhaps, that Mr. 
Eliot should class three thinirs too-ether, as distinanishiuix 
the "praying" from the " prophanc " Indians, to wit : 
''howling; greasing their bodies; an;l adorning their hair." 
But these are trifles in the life of tlie apostle to the 
Indians. 

The Indian Bible has survived its earthly use. But the 
eye of love and reverence can still picture that devout and 
earnest teacher gathering the simple forest children together 
in the blessed land, leading them likt? children to the feet of 
Jesus, and singing the psalms of Israel in the plaintive 
Indian song, thouo-h the confusion of tono-ues is forc:otten. 
lie was pastor for sixty years, and sleeps, by the side of 
his old wife, in "the j\linister's toml),"' in the old burying- 
ground on Eustis street. 

From the first little church on this hill to Waltham 
Abbey, in the [)arish of Naseing, in the English County of 
Kssex, is a long flight in space and time. John Eliot was 
born in the parish, perhaps neat the ruins of the Al)bey that 
carries us back on the stepping-stones- of nine centuries to 
the founding there of a religious house by the standard 
bearer of the first Danish Kins: of Ensfland. 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL.. 31 

Possibly, in the chiircli of Avhicb this Abbey is a part, the 
sister of John Eliot, then a young thing, in 16 18, was mar- 
ried to William Cuitis, of the same parish, who came out 
here with his brother-in-law, "The Apostle," in the ship 
Lyon. In 1839 this "William Curtis built the old Curtis 
house, that has stood by Stony brook for nearl}^ two hun- 
dred and tifty years ; always in the lineal possession of the 
same family, and which has seen every war in this country 
represented by one or more descendants of that first 
settler. The hou^e is overshadowed by an elm which was 
planted as a sapling in 1775. It is the oldest house in New 
England. 

Under its quaint ro(jf, now stored with curious memorials 
of a far-olf past, when deftt" were shot in the door-yard, and 
wolves were " killed on the Curtis farm,"" by wl.ich a hundred 
railroad trains run now, daily, — a company of men, a hun- 
dred years ago, were quartered. A hundred and Oiirty 
years })efore that, John Eliot must have often sojourned 
there. It is said to have been used as head-quarteis by 
Washington. The present occupant, Mrs. Isaac Curtis, who 
gave a husband and a son to the late war, has many relics 
of anticpiarian interest. The future historical society of 
Koxbury may well be proud of this old home of a patriotic, 
puritan race ; and the preservation of the building, intact, is 
a matter of public interest. 

It seems strange, that before Gustavus Adolphus or 
Charles the Twelfth of Sweden were born, a Roxbury man 
should have ever commanded a company of foot at the siege 
of Amiens, under Henry of Navarre. Yet Thomas Dudley, 
the tirst Deputy Governor of Massachusetts, was the man. 



'32 EOXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

Page to the Earl of Northampton, of kui to the Earls of 
Northunil)erlaii(l, steward for long years to the Earl of Lin- 
coln, four times Governor and thirteen times Deputy Gov- 
ernor ; he lived down here by the side of Smelt brook, where 
the Universalist Church^ now stands. Two sentences, from 
that life of liim which Cotton Mather is supposed to have 
written, might be applied to the men of the Revolution : 
" A very wise man and knew how to express his mind in apt 
and gentle expressions.'' " Severe enough, but yet when 
matters were not clear he was slow to prdt'ced to judgment, 
as most wise men used to be." " Courage and constancy to 
the truth." '' One that would not shrink therefrom, for fear of 
favor or hope of reward." One might think he was reading 
Deacon Gridley's town records of ftstruction to Joseph Wil- 
liams, about taxation, a century later. 

Thomas Dudley's son Joseph, a Roxbury man, seemed to 
have a full measure of determined purpose and sweet Avays. 
For he was Representative, Assistant, Agent, Commissioner, 
President of New England, Chief Justice of the Superior 
Court, Chief Justice of New York, Deputy Governor of the 
Isle of ^Yight, Member of Parliament, Captain General and 
Governor-in-Chief of Massachusetts Bay. Courtier of Queen 
Anne, and basking in favor, he was not of a revolutionary 
temper. But he seemed to have the qualities of purpose and 
manner which, if directed to a public cause instead of to 
private advancement, would have calmly, sagaciously and 
obstinately pushed the o])ject to a successful end. 

The third generation, which brings us down near the 
Revoluticju, presented, in Paul Dudley, a writer on Revela- 
tion, a theologian and a strand Chief Justice, whose career 



ROXlUnV CENTENNIAL. 33 

was one of great dignity and poAver, — a thorough ex- 
ample of the best transmitted traits of Puritan cahn- 
ncss and vigor. 

That okl polemic life has another example in that founder 
of this church, A\'illiam Pynchon, whose entirely pious book on 
the sufferings of Christ was " ordered to be burned by the exe- 
cutioner." A mition, of logical faculties, intense convictions 
and patient self-control, was getting ready for 1776. The 
civil wars of England, the religious wars of France, the revo- 
cation of the Ed>ct of Nantes, which flooded Europe and 
America with fugitives for religion's sake, kept the flame 
aglow. The Church and State in England were too closely 
connected to let the old despotism of church be forgotten 
Avhen Parliament began t» invade the colonial rights. The 
old chord vibrated again. But the Puritan habit of repi-ess- 
ing intense emotion prevented premature revolt. 

Even forty-five years ago some of the aged inhalwints 
about the country flirnis talked a little like old covenanters. 
The word " sanctuary " was used instead of "church," and 
" the house of God " almost always instead of '' meeting- 
house." Some of the old people talked with a sort of 
religious glow about the Britishers and Hessians as their 
ancestors had talked of the Antinomians and Cavaliers. 
Koxbury was veiy primitive then. Roxbury street concen- 
trated the town life : all the rest was country. Walnut 
avenue, then Back street, was a narrow road, from the sides 
of which large coveys of quail would frequently start up. 
Forest Hill street, then called Jul)e"s lane, had l)ut one 
habitation upon it, — a wretched collection of hovel and 
sheds, occu[)ied by a Moorish-looking man, who kept swine. 



P)4 IfOXBI'K'Y CENTEXISIAL. 

and had a l)evy of wild-c\ycd childrcD. And in my childish 
rambles, as the squealing herd Avould come rattling througii 
the dry leaves of the woodlands, followed l)y a troop of 
these screaminii' young Bedouins, I have imagined the 
terrors of Mnngo Park in Central Africa, when his lonely 
path was crossed by savage tribes hunting the hippopotami. 
There was a majestic tree upon the Williams homestead, 
near Walnut avenue. It was planted, perhaps, by the old 
settler of 1630, Ilol)ert Williams, whose descendants, as 
l)atriots and patrons of learning, have left the family name 
on the Declaration of Independence, on the corner-stone of 
Williams College, and on the battle-tields of the Eevolntion. 
A very ancient dame, mother of old men as they then 
seemed to me, told me that, under that tree, she had fed the 
soldiers of 1775 as they came from Lexington. 

A " Over her grave for forty years 

The grasses have been growing." 

But I have thought of that tree and of her, Avhen, as one 
of hundreds of thousands of marching men, I have been fed 
])y the loyal women of Philadelphia, who kept their halls 
open through the whole of the Rebellion ; and I have 
thanked God for the apostolical succession of ministering 
ans^els to mankind. 

There Avas on Warren street an old wooden house, black 
and shattered with more than a centnry of storms. A herd 
oLcows that, I believe, Avere once stabled on the parlor 
floor, had found better quartei'S in the cellar — before the 
house Avas abandoned. 

Many a time has my honored father stopped on our Ava}' 



IIOXBURY CENTENNIAL. 35 

to my school in Boston, and pointed out the bedroom in 
which Major General Joseph Warren was born. And then, 
dwelling on the story of Lexington and Bunker Hill, or 
telling me some moving incident of heroism by field or 
flood, my good father would lill my eyes Avith tears and my 
young heart full of Warren's sentiment : — 

" Dulce ct decorum est pro jyatria moriy 

And it seems to me that Warren, nunc lliau any other 
man, has impressed this sentiment on the heart of America. 

When the British General said that Warren's death was 
worth five hundred men, he forgot that Warren had done 
his M ork ; that his early death, at thirty-four, had put the 
seal of glory on it ; and that the l)lo()d of martyrs is the seed 
of the church. 

Great Britain Avould have better sacrificed five thousand 
men to save his life. For he was at the height of his Tame. 
He had given hostages to fortune. No one could be sure 
that the heaven-born orator and patriot would also be " a 
heaven-born general." His glory, already won in the field 
of eloquence, demanded eipial glory in the command of 
troops, — a good fortune, such as no civilian, suddenly 
placed in conmiand ■ as Major General without passing 
through grades of actual service, c^ould have expected. 
Who that stands by Warren's grave Avould take him from 
his assured immortality in the nation's heart, and expose him 
to the chances of defeat in the field, or to the caprice wjf 
popular favor? His death was the key-stone to the arch of 
his labor. 

For when the sun went down on the 17th of June, 1775, 



oC) KOXliUlIV CKNTENNIAL. 

rcvolutiou Avas an aceoptcd fact. On the morning' that 
followed that light the astonished and wounded pride of 
the English, victors though they were, could not have 
sul)niitted to any terms which the defeated, but astonished 
and exultant, colonists, would have accepted. The 17th of 
Jime had verified that defiant prophecy of AVarren : ''These 
fellows say we won't fight ! l>y Heaven, I hope 1 shall die 
np to my knees in blood ! " 

The battle of Bunker Hill Avas the irrevocal)le covenant of 
successful revolt. And the mission of Warren was to bring 
the nation up to Bunker Hill. 

For this work the intense magnetic nature of the man was 
adapted. And here comes in the marked Puritan element 
again — conviction at tvhite /teat, and inexorable loyic, and 
patient tvaitimj. His Avords Avere like a cavalry charge. 
His personal qualities assured him leadership. But just as 
the old Puritans Avould say, and honestly too, "BeloA^ed 
Brother," Avhile their hearts Avere on fire — Warren, Avhile 
concentrating everything on Union and Pevolution, and 
Avhile making ofiicers shudder Avhen he delivered their com- 
missions, could say — and he meant it — "No mobs! No 
confusion! No tumults ! " " Let the persons and property 
of our most inveterate enemies be safe ! " 

This old Puritan toyn may claim in him the best re\'olu- 
tionary example of the old Puritan concentrated force, 
directed \\\Mn\ tlie turning-point of our del)ate, and then 
ei^'ely cx[)ended like a shell in the most eflective Avay to 
carr\' it. 

The town records of Roxl)ury are particularly instructive. 
They offer models of temper, and constantly show the iufiu- 



KOXUUKY CEMEX>vl.LL. 37 

encc of the stern Puritan lieart and mind and will and 
manner. They recall the men who " admonish Avith love," 
.spend weeks in argument, and slay "for the Gospel's sake." 

As carl}^ as October 22, 1665, when the town contained 
1,487 people, town meeting, "expressing the greatest 
loyalty to our ]\Iost Gracious Sovereign and our sincere 
veneration for the British Parliament," instructs its repre- 
sentative, Joseph AVilliams, who lived down here by Hog 
bridge, and Avho commanded a regiment in the French war, 
"That you readily join in snch dutiful remonstrances and 
humble petitions." . . . "That you do not give your 
assent to any act of assembly that shall imply the willing- 
ness of your constituents to submit to any internall taxes 
that are imposed otherwise than l)y the Great and Generall 
Court of This Province according to the Constitution of this 
Government. We also recommend a clear, Explicit and 
Inspirited Assertion and vindication of our rights and I^iber- 
ties as inherent in our very natures and confirmed to us by 
our charter." 

October 22, 1667. Town meeting, called to consider 
"suitable and prudent measures" to encourage domestic 
manufactures, adjourns to December 7, 1()()7 ; and it is 
then voted that this town " will take all proper and Legall 
measures " to lessen the use of imported articles ; specifying 
a list that includes almost everything known among men, 
from loaf sugar and cordage, to cheese, "chiney ware," fire 
engines and " Glew." Meeting uas then adjourned ifek) 
meet after Lecture." 

Soon after, the names of iniporters are published in severe 



o<S uoxm i:v (jenteaniyVL. 

terms, and ordered to be read at future town meetings, to 
expose their eonduct to posterity. 

May, 1()69. Town meeting instructs Joseph \^'illiams to 
proceed in "a calm, steady manner." lie is reminded that 
"overdoing, as well as coming short, hath an ill tendency." 
After ex})ressing horror at being "painted" as "Factious, 
liel)ellious," the instructions say, " Secondly, Let the invalu- 
able Charter, Rights, Liberties and Privileges 
ever be near your hearts, privileges which are to us as dear 
as our lives, therefore we presume you will never consent 
to give them up. And that neither powers nor flatteries 
will ever prevail on you to renounce one Avhit of them." 
T\m instructions order him to " avoid everything disrespect- 
ful," l)ut suggest some very disrespectful inquiries ; "to cul- 
tivate harmony," but in spite of every discouragement to 
continue his "Cries and Petitions." 

But after the massacre, writing to Gov. Hutchinson, they 
" desire to express our astonishment, grief and indignation 
at the horrid and barbarous action conunitted there last 
Monday evening by a party of those troops, by tiring with 
small arms in the most wanton and cowardly manner." 

I have given enough for example of the vigor and self- 
control of Ivoxbury in the Kcvolution. 

The Sons of Liberty often met at the Greyhound Tavern 
in Jvoxbury street, where Graham's block now staiuls. Its 
walls rang with wit and patriotic eloquence. John Greaton, 
tktk innkee[)er, was at Lexington and Bunker Hill. He 
became a Brigadier General in the army. He Avas a good 
officer, and I hold in my hand his connnission as Colonel, 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 3J> 

lout l)y Mr. Drake. It bears date 1774, and is signed by 
Samuel Iluntingtrjn. 

The lirst "General Order" for the army was siuned by 
General A\'illiam Heath, a l\oxbury man, and the son ot a 
Eoxburv farmer. lie was at Lexington and Bunker Ilill, 
and commanded a i^art of the riirht wing in the sieofe of 
Boston. His conspicuous qualities of honesty and patriotism 
were rewarded by the especial favor of Washington, who 
appointed him to the command of West Point after the 
treason of Arnold. 

Here, too, lived and died Major General Henry Dearborn, 
distinguished in the great battles of the war, and having the 
honor of beino; on the stall' of A\'ashington. ^ 

Lemuel Childs, Avho commanded a company at Lexington, 
kept the old Peacock Tavern, which stood on Centre street, 
at the corner of the present Allendale street, once owned by 
Samuel Adams, and visited by Washington, Knox and the 
other army officers. Xear it the army, in event of disaster, 
was ordered to reassemble. 

Moses Whiting and Wjlliani Draper, botli Koxbury men, 
commanded companies at Lexington. 

Rol)ert Williams, Master of the Latin School when the 
war broke out, changed his ferule for a sword, and took a 
commission in the army. 

One hundred and forty RoxI)ury men Averc at Lexington. 

Only a few rods from this church was the old fort built l)y 
General Knox. The Cochituatc stand-pipe marks the place 
where it stood. 

Whether the eye turns backward or forward to survc}' 
the distinction of this toAvn, the page is bright with names 



10 i;(>XIU'i;V CKXTENXIAL. 

of Governors and fliulo-es and Senators, historians, authors, 
clergj'imMi, and ph^'sicians, who are patrons of h'arninix sis 
Avell as heroes. Perhaps no New EngLind town can show 
so many names of such distinction in two hundred and forty- 
six years. 

A citizen of Iloxbury was counsel for the War Depart- 
ment in the gravest questions and darkest years of the 
Government. Every chiki in America has read and studied 
the Histories, the Geographies, the Headers and Speakers of 
citizens of Iioxbury. Roxhury was the seat of the most 
curious contribution to transcendental thought and life in 
America. The Dudleian Lectures and the Bussey Institute 
coi^titute part of tlic delit of Harvard College to the 
citizens of this town. The Constitution of Massachusetts 
owes to a citizen of Roxbury the insertion, in her bill of 
rights, of the immortal Avords "All men are born free and 
equal." And this clause was then introduced with the 
intention of putting an end to slavery in Massachusetts. 
The tongu(\s of Eui'ope and Asia have translated, and arc 
this day translating, w^ords of l)eauty and power that were 
written forty years ago by a citizen of Roxbury, and passed 
through hundreds of editions, in aid of the Temperance 
Reform. 

If I turn my eye to the Governors of Alassachusetts, who 
were sons of Roxl)urv by l)irth, another, who was her citizen 
l>y temporaiy residence, and who is a respected example of 
the gn^at Pin-itan virtue, cqui/ibriiim under inlluence, meets 
my eye. An hcnir's oration is not long enough to recite the 
merits of tliose who, as well as he, have; enjoyed her 
numicipal honors. 



KOXBUKY CEXTEXMAL. 41 

Shall I speak of her later soldiers? If name afior name 
comes before nic, fond voices whisper in my ear, " I, too, 
can lead you to a hero's grave." The choice which I, per- 
haps, might make, retires from my embarrassed lips. In 
illustration more than in eulogy, I have mentioned Warren. 
He is the representative soldier of this town for other and 
later generations than his own. Many of "the three hun- 
dred " were as brave as Leonidas ; but he stands for all 
Sparta, and all time. The splendor of his fortune prevents 
all throb of envy. No one can blame me if I name one other, 
whose achievement will never be forgotten till the pilgrim 
can Avalk dry shod from Calais to Dover. What American 
can ever forget that ecstatic nineteenth of Apiil, 18G4, when 
the Kearsarge went into the British channel with the Ala- 
bama, and came out of it alone? The God of veligeaiice 
chose the place, that England might never scowl across the 
water into French eyes again without seeing the grave of 
HER pirate. Commodore John A. Winslow, of kin to the 
Pilgrim blood, who thrilled the nation twelve years ago by 
that victory over the selfishness of England, Avas a resident 
of Roxbury for nearly thirty years. 

The fervor of that old iiraying, reasonin2:, fisfhtinof, but 
self-controlled, Puritan blood has never failed to mark the 
historic p.ige. Little peculiarities of to-day show the old 
marked influence on the habit of mind, and on the staid 
severity of manner. The peculiar Puritanic habit of giving 
such names as ^Nlercy, Faithful, Increase, and Desire, has 
forgotten the cause of an effect which remains. The odd 
trick of addressing a child by everv one of his names when 
impressiveness is intended, may be traced to the Puritanic 



42 EOXBURV CENTENNIAL. 

a<i'c and the lioimdliend habit of ij-ivinii- whole texts from the 
Bil)le as baptismal names, in order to constantly impress 
a Gospel truth. So that, when a country mother sharply 
addresses her son, " Georae AVashinsftou Franklin Jones ! 
Avhat do you mean ? " we are hearing the echo of the ancient 
time in which names were impressively recited as texts in 
full, when addressing "Faint Not Hewitt," "God Eeward 
Smart," "Kill Sin Pimple," "Fight the good tight of Faith 
White," and that most remarkal)le of all, " If Christ had not 
died for you, yon had been damned Barebone," — all of 
which Hume mentions. 

How changed is the town since the pastor of the Third 
Church of Jamaica Plain, the Reverend Doctor William 
Gordon, wrote his history of the American war ! For Eox- 
bury claims this historian. 

These streets and this hill had then recently felt the tread 
of Washington. Here he had visited the lines of Heath, 
and Ward, and Thomas, in the most anxious moments of his 
life. Over this hill that majestic form had passed to occupy 
the Heights of Dorchester. 

To go to Boston we must pass through w^orks beyond 
Roxbury street, and, traversing the Neck sometimes up to 
the horses' knees in salt w^ater, meet opposing works at 
Dover street, which commanded Boston Neck, and poured 
shot and shell on the spot wdiere we stand. For Boston and 
Ivoxbury are at war in 1775. 

But how nmch more vastly changed is the nation which 
has passed through battles to which Bunker Hill was only 
skirmish lire ! The centennial year of the nation shall 
to-day spread the mantle of silence over the graves of men 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 43 

whose sires once fell in a common cause nndci the eye 
of Washington. 

The wounds that yet fester will heal. The nation is yet 
in its youth. Heirs of the three centuries that have passed 
since our first settlers were l)orn, let us take a moment's 
retrospect, and imagine what the future can have in store 
for those who will smile at our quaint words and ways. 

Shakespeare was not of much account when Thomas Dud- 
ley first put on a uniform, about a dozen years before ]\lilton 
was born. When the Spanish Armada was defeated, and 
INIary, Queen of Scots, beheaded, Dudley was a big boy. 
In his time there were plenty of men living who had heard 
('Olumbus denounced as an impostor for beo-o-ino- monev for 
a l)ig huml)ug in the Atlantic. John Eliot was teaching the 
Indians, about the time that the Mantchoo Tartars conquered 
China, and a generation before Peter the Great was born. 
The Ministers' tomb, down here in Roxbury street, had l)een 
closed half a century on John Eliot's dust, before Frederic 
the Great nscended the Prussian throne. And Dudley had 
rested in his grave one hundred and fifteen years before 
Captain Cook sailed round the world and discovered the 
Sandwich Islands. 

The face of Europe has been changed over and ovei" again 
since this church in Rocksborongh was settled. " The Free 
Grammar Schoole " is venerable. Since it was founded 
Russia has had a dozen rulers ; Poland and Hungary have 
vanished ; the Ottoman power has been destroyed ; Algeria 
has become a part of the French Empire ; the British East 
Indian Empire and the title of " Great Britain" itself have 
been create(J ; in France, the Empire of the first Napoleon, 



44 KOXBUin' CENTENNIAL. 

Avitli tlio change that he made of States and crowns, its fields 
of Marengo and Austerlitz, the Russian campaign, and 
AYatcrh)o, and Elba, and St. Helena, — all this in the his- 
tory of France, — is one item only in her change; for not 
only the first, but the second empire, the revolutions, the re- 
publics, Louis Philippe, the whole royal house ot Bourbon 
and three or four monarchs of the house of Valois, have 
vanished ; Germany has seen her empires and confederations 
come and go and come again ; and Great Britain has spent 
in war a dozen thousand millions of dollars, often Avithout 
much thought, — all this, and vasti}' more, since "with many 
imparlances and days of humiliation by those of Roxbury, 
to seek the Lord for Mr. Welde his disposing," Mr. Welde 
resolved "to sit downe with them of Roxbury." 

But I believe that those old Puritan " days of humiliation 
to seek the Lord," and the habit of mind evolved thereby, 
created the New Enghmd fibre, and the best that it has done 
in arts and arms. Science may sneer at the idea of changing 
a link in an eternal chain of cause and citect. But wdion the 
vital and spiritual element is a factor in a prol)lem, her 
instruments and deductions lose their certainty. We know 
that our whole life is based on the power to change events. 
Otherwise we should never strive, nor command, nor uvge, 
nor fight, nor woo. It is folly to believe all life and 
consciousness are a fraud. 

A French camp Avould hardly l)e thought a religious 
school. But Henry of Navarre with all his gallantries had 
the fullest faith in praying to God " with agony." The 
garden of Gethsemane cannot l)c subjected to the conditions 
of scientific investigation : and we know that the prayer 
was not answered ; and the cup did not pass away. But, 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 45 

because it did not, the instrument of the most ignominious 
punishment, which was as low as the " cart ta}de " of Qua- 
ker torture, became the altar-piece of the most gorgeous 
cathedrals of the world. 

The old teachers have gone to their calm repose. This 
old town has passed away. The city with its eight mu- 
nicipal organizations arc absorbed in another. Schemes 
and hopes and dreams and animosities are forgotten. We 
have started on a new career. But this old hill-top and this 
church remain. Long may the Spirit of God rest upon it. 
The benedictions of near a hundred years have fallen from 
the lips of the present pastor and his innnediate [)iedccessor 
who has ijone before. Those benedictions return to earth. 
From the dying-bed and the baptismal font ; from tl^e altar 
and the 'grave ; from the scenes of resignation and the scenes 
of hope ; on the wings of the Holy Spirit they return to 
soothe the heart and to kiss the lips that uttered them. 
Long ma}' the successor of AVelde, and Eliot, and Danforth, 
and Walter, and Peabody, and Adams, and Porter, bear 
their mantle upon earth ! 

THE BENEDICTION. 

The hymn "America " was sung by the choir, the large 
congregation joining in the last two verses, and the Bene- 
diction was pronounced by the Rev. John O. Means ; — 

And now may the God of Peace, who brouglit again from the 
dead our Lord Jesus Christ, — the Great Shepherd of the sheep, 
through the blood of the Blessed Covenant, — niake you perfect 
in everA' good work to do His will, nnd work in a-ou tli;it you your- 
selves may be perfect in His sight, througli Jesus Clu'ist, to whom 
be the glorv, forever and ever. Amen. 



THE BANQUET. 



At the conclusion of the exercises at the church, the pro- 
cession re-formed, and escorted the guests to Webster Hall, 
where the ranks were broken. At six o'clock the com[)any 
sat down to a l);inquct in Institute ITall, served by the vet- 
eran Col. Jonas Pierce. The hall was gracefully decorated, 
unde^the direction of Captain eTohn A. Scott. The national 
colors were depended in streamers from prominent points. 
On the platform were the Hon. William Gaston (the chair- 
man ol» the evening), the orator of the day, and the dis- 
tinguished citizens who took part in the after-dinner 
exercises. Six tables extended the entire length of the hall. 
On the extreme right, next the platform, were the Roxbury 
Horse Guards, and facing them, at the same table, w^ere the 
Grand Army. The next two tables were occupied by citizens. 
The Norfolk Guards were seated at the left of the fourth, and 
right of the fifth ta1)le. The Roxbury Artillery occupied the 
left side of the fifth table, and the sixth table was taken up 
by the Roxlniry City Guard. Seated at the tables were the 
following well-known citizens : — 

Obed Rand, Augustus Bacon, 

Dr. H. G. Morse, John Kneelaiid, 

Dr. E. G. ]M()ore, George H. Munroe, 

Jeremiah Plynipton, Moses H. Day, 

John H. Lester, Aaron D. Williams, 

Dr. Joseph II. Streeter, Joseph II. Chadwiek, 

Nathan S. Wilbur, James Morse, 

Horace T. Rockwell, S. A. Bolster, 



ROXBURY CEKTENNIAL. 47 

Capt. Joseph Hastings, Ivoiy Harmon, 

Capt. John W. Chase, Bernard Foley, 

Andrew W. Newman, Owen Naun, 

Frank Hastings, H. A. S* Dndley, 

AVilliam C. Coller, R. C. Nichols, 

Benjamin Merriam, George Lewis, 

"William Bacon, Samuel T. Cobb, 

and many others. 

The appearance of ex-Goveruor Gaston was greeted with 
three heart}^ cheers. 

The divine blessing was invoked by the Rev. A. J. Pat- 
terson, pastor of" the Koxl)ury Universalist Chnrch : — * 

< 

Our Father who art in Heaven, we thank Thee that Thou hast 
been our dwelling-place in all generations. AVe thank Thee that 
Thy presence, care and inspiration attended our fathers in tiie 
bright day, and in the dark and trjMng day. We thank Thee for 
their integrit}-, for their fidelity', for their love of countr}', and 
their love of Thee. We thank Thee that the}' labored, and we 
their children are permitted to enter into their labors. O God, we 
thank Thee that, to-day, in memory, we are permitted to walk along 
the paths where they wrought, where they struggled, where the}- 
triumphed. We thank Thee for the inspiring words that have been 
spoken. We pra}* that they may sink deep into our hearts, and that 
they will enable us to take up the work which the fathers began so 
well, and carry it forward. Ma}- Thy blessing rest upon this com- 
munity. Beautiful for situation are these Highlands where we dwell. 
May they become more beautiful through the faithful work and godly 
life of their inhabitants. Let Thy loving favor attend our entire 
city ; may it rest upon this Commonwealth. O God, may the tone 
of our beloved country, and State, and city, be that of a people 
whose God is the Lord. Wilt Thou bless us now as we feast upon 
the bounties of Thy hand, and feed our souls, we pray Thee, upon 
that bread which cometh down from Heaven, and giveth life unto 
tlie world. Prepare us for the faithful discharge of the duties 



48 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

which we owe to Thee aud to humanit}'. Guide us while life lasts, 
and when our daj-s on earth are numbered, gather us into tlie 
enjoyment of that eternal inheritance which Thou hast preparei] 
for all who put their trust in Thee ; and unto Th}' great name, 
through Him who loved us and gave Himself for us, will we 
ascribe praise and power and glory and dominion now and for- 
ever. Amen. 



The dinner was served in plain, old-fashioned Roxbury 
style, everything being supplied in abundance. 



'WELCOMING ADDRESS OF HON. WILLIAM GASTON. 

After the feast had been disposed of and cigars lighted, 
the chairman called the company to order, saying : — 

In behalf of the Committee of Arrangements, I am happy to 
welcome io these tables, to-night, so many whom I know love, 
honor, and cherish the name of Roxbury [Applause], a place that 
has furnished so man}' men who have borne no inconspicuous part 
in the history of the colony, the province, the commonwealth and 
the nation. Roxbury now forms a part of the great metropolis of 
Massachusetts and of New P^ngland ; her name has been stricken 
from the list of the municipalities of the State, but her hills and her 
valleys are here ; the graves of her heroes, her statesmen, and her 
philanthropists are here ; her history is not blotted out ; her 
traditi(jns remain, and her memory is as fragrant and as sweet as 
ever. [Applause.] As a part of the great cit}' of Boston she 
has entered upon a new century, which, I trust, is to be filled with 
the highest achievements of civilization and of peace. We are 
now citizens of Boston, and as such we are proud of the great 
metropolis ; we are proud of her for what she has been and what 
she is. But in our pride for the great city of Boston, we do not 
forget tlie old town and city of Roxbury [Applause], that has 
brought to the city of Boston her contributions of strength and of 
glory. 



KOXIiUUY CKNTENNIAL. 41) 

Mail}' events have occurred ou our soil which have been narrated 
on the pages of history ; she has furnished men whose glory and 
whose fame are the common inheritance of the nation. These 
events and these men will never be forgotten ; but there are 
associations which we wish to keep alive ; there are traditions 
which we wish to cherish, there are events which we wnsli to rescue 
from oblivion. Such are among the purposes of this day's ser- 
vices ; for such, among other reasons, we have assembled to listen 
to words of instruction and eloquence to daj'. [Applause.] 
And for these purposes, in part, you have assemble^bere to-night. 
My duty, gentlemen, is not so much to speak, as to open the lips 
of the men of wit and eloquence whom I see around me, and in 
the performance of this duty I invite the aid of my friend General 
John L. Swii^, whom I have the pleasure of introducing as the 
Toast-master. 

Gen. Swift was received with loud applause and a round of 
three hearty cheers. Bowing his acknowledgments to the 
compan}^ he proceeded to announce the sentiments prepared 
for the occasion. 



[Applause.] 



"The Memories of Old Roxburt." 

Proudly she sits upon her heights, 

Where peace and comfoi't reign, 
And liappiness fills all her homes, 

Proud in her wealth and gain. 

Though changed her name and changed her bounds, 

And changed each vale and hill, 
Loved by the loyal native heart 

Is dear old Roxburv still. 



7 



50 ROXBURY CEXTEXNIAL. 



IXTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

I shall invite to respond to this toast an old and honored 
citizen of Ivox1)niy, the first Ma3-or of the nnniicipality; the 
Hon. tTouN J. Clarke. [Applause.] 



RESPONSE OF THE HON. JOHN J. CLARKE. 

I can hardly realize, geatleuien, that 1 am an old nian. [Laugh- 
ter.] Yet still I am called upon to respond to the toast of Old 
Roxbury. It would he more than superfluous for me to talk about 
what happened in Roxbury in old times, as it has been so elo- 
quently spoken of l)y the orator to-day. It is true that I have 
known it for overlifty ^-ears. When I came here there were about 
5,000 inhabitants ; Boston was an island ; there was no public 
conveyance between Boston and Roxbury at that time, and at 
high tide we could hardl}' get to Boston drj'-shod. Now the same 
territory, which then was populated by about five thousand inhabi- 
tants, has pro1)ably from thirty to forty thousand, and, as my 
eloquent friend said to-day, it was then a place of farms and gar- 
dens, with here and there a house. It is now built up with blocks 
of buildings, and tliere is liardly a garden, and very few of the 
old houses left. What a change ! But althougli there is change 
in ever}' otlier respect, in one I think there is not. The spirit 
that animates the young men of to-day is the same spirit that 
animated their aneestors of 177(;!. [Applause] As I said, it 
would be superfluous to speak of old Roxbury more than I have, 
or detain you with a longer spceeli ; but, as one of its oldest inhabi- 
tants, — I believe I could count on my fingers those living here 
when I eamc. — I don't know that it would be imjjroper for me to 
toast tiie young men of to-day ; and with your pei'missio^i 1 will 
give you this sentiment : — " Tlie young men of the Roxbury l)is- 
triet, — worlhy suceessors of its citizens in 1776, manifested by 
their action in tlie late Rebellion, and illustrated l)y their hearty 
I'eeognition of tlie Centennial year of our national indei)endence. 
— may Cod bless them 1 " [.Vpplause.] 



EOXJJURV OKXTEXXTAL. 51 

Sccorttr Sentiment. 

"The PRKsinENT of the United .si aii>. 

It is the scntiniont and voice of old Roxbury that forty millions of in- 
tellijrcnt American citizens know neither partisanship or prejudice, only 
respect and obedience to the National Chief Majjistrate, ivhoever he is, or 
iclioever he is to he. 

[Cries of "Good," ;intl long applause.] , 



INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

Gentle.men : — I shall have the pleasure of inviting to 
respond to this toast a gentleman who is a resident of Rox- 
bur3% and whose eloquenee is adequate to the occasion of 
responding for the Chief Magistrate of the United States — 
Mr. Collector Simmons., [Applause.] 



RESPONSE or HON. WILLIAM A. SIMMONS. 

Mr. Presidext axd Gextlemex : — 1 rejoice that I am privi- 
leged to participate in the veiy impressive and plcasiu-able ceremo- 
nies of this Roxbnr}' Centennial observance. I rejoice, too, sir, 
that we of the present time are privileged to stand, as it were, 
upon the very threshold of the second centnr}' of our national ex- 
istence, and feel our hearts thrilling with emotions of patriotic 
pride and pleasure over the magnificent outlook which the 
unparalleled prospcrit}' of the countrj' in the past indicates as the 
destin}- of the republic in the future. [Applause.] 

As has been well said, the President of these United States does 
represent forty millions of free people, a large majority of whom, 
happily, are loyal, peaceful, patriotic, liberty-loving people, who 
believe in the great underlying principles upon which our whole 
fabric of government rests ; who believe in the widest dissemina- 
tion of education and information among the masses ; who believe 



52 ROXBURY CENTEXNIAL. 

in the spirit of religious toleration which the Constitution incul- 
cates ; who lielieve in that freedom of speech and of the press 
which has convinced the world that for more than a century we 
have been among the foremost of the nations of the earth ; and it 
is because of the almost universal belief of our people in these 
great principles, these fundamental principles of free government, 
that we are, to-da}-, permitted to enjoy the privileges, the liberties 
and the blessings of the Union in which Ave live. Push aside 
for a moment the curtain which hides from our view the glorious 
labors of the century which has passed.; look at the almost 
fabulous results of our national researches, at the marvellous de- 
velopments of our industrial interests — 250,000 manufacturing 
establishments ; 3,000,000 farms, each one, with rare excep- 
tion, cultivated by its owner; 75,000 miles of railroad, half the 
number in the whole world ; 3,000,000 tons of shipping upon 
our inland lakes alone, and a mci'cantile marine larger, with one 
exception, than that of any other nation on the civilized globe ; and 
all these wonderful evidences of thrift and wealth and power are 
simph- tlie logical results, the natural outgrowth of the ettbrts and 
labors of those heroic men who gathered upon these Roxbury hills 
one hundred years ago as volunteers in tlie sacred cause of human 
frec'lom. [Applause and cheers.] 

The lo_yal men of this time, sir, are the direct inheritors of the 
faith and principles of their fathers. They have endeavored 
to live up to the full measure and spirit of the genius of our insti- 
tutions. The}' have established all over this fair land of ours free 
schools in which to educate the 3'outh of the nation [Applause] ; 
Christian churches in which to worship God ; free libraries to en- 
rich the minds; newspapers to enlarge the information and under- 
standing ; society in which law, order and justice prevail, and 
where, thank God, labor is considered honorable ; and all these 
taken together have made possible that magnificent American citi- 
zenship which has developed the wonderful wealth, power and thrift 
of the American continent ; which has attracted 500,000 new 
settlers to our sliores each recurring year ; and "which, better than 
that, has convinced the world that the broadening influences of 
American civilization Avill continue to give, in all the centuries 
that lie l)efore us, power, wealth, union, libert}', peace and grandeur 



ROXBUKY CENTENNLVL. 53 

to this republic as long as luinian liberty shall find name and place 
among the children of men. 

And for these reasons, sir, I am led irresistibl}' to the conclu- 
sion that notwithstanding the unfortunate complications of the 
present, the intelligence, the patriotism, the good sense, the loyalty 
of the American people will elevate them above and bej'ond the 
narrow sphere of political prejudice and partisanship, and will lead 
them, in the language of your sentiment, to accord to tlie President 
of the United States, whoever he may be, the same unswerving, 
patriotic devotion, which has characterized the American people 
for more than a century, [Loud and long-continued applause.] 

And now, in conclusion, let me express the hope that when the 
smoke of these transitory battles shall have lifted and faded into air' 
we may find the North, the South, the East, the AVest, keeping step 
to the music of the Union, and marching in accord and harmony 
with the patriotic utterances of our own great poet, when he 
sings : — 

•• Thou, too, sail on, ship of State; 
Sail on, O Union, strong and great ; 
Humanity, with all its fears, 
With all the hopes of future years. 
Is hanging breathless on thy fate ! 

" We know what master laid thy keel, 
What workman wrought thy ribs of steel, 
Who made each mast, and spar, and rope, 
What anvils rang, what hammers beat. 
In what a forge and what a heat 

Were shaped the anchors of thy fate. 

" In spite of rock and tempest's roar, 
In spite of false lights on the shore, 
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea ! 
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee ; 
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 
Our faitli triumphant o'er our fears. 
Are all with thee — are all with thee ! " 



[Loud and long-continued applause, ending with cheers for the 
speaker.] 



54 ROXBUKY CENTENNIAL. 

Cbtrtr Sentiment. 

"The Commonwealth or Massachusetts." 

The Old Biiy State is proud of her t?lorious past and her triumphant 
present. She is proud of the memories which cluster about riyniouth Rock, 
Faneuil Ilall and Bunker Hill. She is proud of her staples of sjranite, ice, 
and sterlinjr men and women, and she is also proud of her nui<j:nifi(«ent Chief 
Magistrate. 

REMAEKS BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

Gentlemen: — I regret that His Excellency the Governor has 
been prevented from attending and responding to this toast in 
honor of our old Commonwealth ; and as she has no one to 
respond for her to-nigiit, I invite jo\i, men of Roxl3nry, to rise in 
your places and give three clieers in her honor. 

The aiinoimcenient Avas 2:reeted with loud applause, and 
three rousing cheers and a " tiger "' were giveu by the entire 
company in response to the sentiment. 



Jourtlj Sentiment. 

'•The City of Boston." 

Boston, beside her commercial, patriotic and intellectual renown, is 
famous as the City of Notions. <Jiu' of her best notions was to come to old 
Roxbury and take our fellow-citizen, Samuel C. Cobb, for lier model IMayor. 



INTRODUCTION BY TPIE CHAIRMAN. 

Gentlemen: — I regret that Ilis Honor Mayor Cobb is not 
present to respond ; but, fortunately, we have the next ofBcer of 
the City GovernuuMit, the Chairman of the Board of Aldermen, 
and I now take pleasure in introducing to you Alderman Clark. 
[Applause.] 



ROXBURY CEXTEXNIAL. 55 



RESPONSE OF IIOX. JOIIX T. CLARK, CHAIRMAN OF THE 
BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF BOSTON. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : — I exceedingl}" regret that His 
Honor the Ma3-or is not present to respond to the toast offered to 
the city ; but in his aljsence permit me to say that it affords nie 
great pleasure to respond to a sentiment in honor of tlie cit}' of 
Boston, especially upon this occasion, for I nnderstand, sir, that 
this is the celebration of the anniversary of an association whose 
organization dates far back i«to the carl}' history of the town of 
Eoxbury, and has always held a conspicuous position among the 
cherished institutions of the past and present. 

It is a good thing, Mr. Chairman, to keep alive the memory of 
these ancient associations. The}" are tlie landmarks which recall 
to lis the niemor}' of our f:ithers, and. encourage us to imitate 
their virtues, and to strengthen and perpetuate the principles of 
good government for which the}' labored and helped to establish. 
Tliese principles are alive in our midst to-day, sir, and they have 
preserved untarnished the fair fame of our city during its years of 
rapid growth and wonderful prosperity. Our municipal escutcheon 
has not suffered by any acts which have been the disgrace of other 
cities. The voice of our people is now, and ever lias been, for the 
riglit, and I believe, sir, that as it has been in the past so it will 
be in tlie future. Others may excel us in rapid growth of popu- 
lation, but not in the elements of integrity and stability, the 
foundations of true prosperity. I believe, sir, that as we increase 
in population, and in everything which tends to build up a large 
and prosperous city, so also shall we strengthen the foundation of 
honor and virtue which our fathers laid witli such tender regard for 
the welfare of their posterity, by remembering their early lessons 
and emulating their examples. 

Mr. Chairman, it has been said that Boston has gained by the 
annexation of Roxbury. It certainly has, .-wkI in no small degree ; 
and among those things by which it has been benefited, the evi- 
dence is before you this evening, in your chairman, an able and 
efficient Mayor of the city [Applause], an able and eflicient Gov- 
ernor of the State [Applause], and before long, gentlemen, I hope, 
an able and eflicient member of the Congress of the United States 



56 KOXBUKY CENTEXiNIAL. 

[Loud applause]. You have also during the last three years had 
another man taken from your midst to preside over the city of Bos- 
ton. No city has ever known a better executiA'e officer, and I only 
regret that he will not allow his name to be used in the future as he 
has in the past. It is an exceedingly great loss for anj' city to 
lose the services of such an executive as Boston has been blessed 
Avith during the past three years. [Applause]. 



^Ififtfj ^Sentiment.' 

•'The Orator of the Koxbuim' Centennial." 

Though our orator is simply a Sargent, his success to-day in the field of 
eloquence entitles him to immediate promotion. In the hearts of Roxbury he 
can take no higher rank. 

INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

1 have the pleasure, gentlemen, of now presenting to you a 
gentleman whose eloquence has once charmed you to-da}', Genei'al 
.Sargent. [Long applause.] 

REjSPONSE OF GENERAL HORACE BINNEY SARGENT. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: — I feel very much obliged to 
you for the kindness of your greeting. You will remember that, when 
the time was made up for the soldiers engaged in the war- of the 
Rebellion, tiu; three mouths were always counted into their time 
and credited to them. I heard this morning that ever}' speaker 
here was ex-jjccted to* speak just three minutes, and as 1 have 
already spoken so long to-day I think, if m}' time then is to be 
counted in now^ my three minutes must be already up. 

But, gentlemen, it is an occasion for a man to be proud of, that 
lie can recall the record of this old town and city, in such an 
assemblage as this to-niglit. I am sure it w'ould gratify the heart 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 57 

of my old father if he could look upon this assembly of Roxbury 
men ; for he lived here near fort}' years, and liere he died. He 
opposed annexation to Boston ])eeause he loved the old records 
and individual life of this venerable town. But 1 am sure he 
would be glad to see his old friends as the citizens of Boston 
to-night. 

Gentlemen. I was gratified by the eloquence that has charmed 
me before, — that of the Collector of the Port of Boston. He is 
j-ounger than I am ; his view is very hopeful, and I h()[)e his view 
is perfectly rfght. But it does seem to me that this is a solemn 
occasion as well as a gay one. I should be unwilling lo suggest 
that at an}" time within the memory of this generation men ma}' be 
compelled to meet their brothers in hostility on the field in defence 
of liberty, free government, and the will of the constitutional 
majority. I do not expect it ; but I am not sorry that we keep up 
our old military traditions throughout the whole length and breadth 
of the land. 

It is a pleasure to me to meet to-night the chairman of this 
assembly, who, as has been eloquently said, was an excellent 
Mayor of the city, and an admirable Governor of the State. As I 
had the honor of saying to you in the church, though 1 don't know 
that the allusion to him Avas exactly understood, he seems to me to 
represent the Puritan virtue of equilibrium under pressure, — self- 
control, — and that is precisely what an executive of a free 
government should represent ; he ought never to give " up to party 
what is meant for mankiud." It is because this principle of 
equilibrium lies deep and strong in the hearts of the American 
people throughout the northern country, and I lioi)e and believe, in 
the hearts of the majority of the vSouth, that I look for a peaceful 
solution of the ditliculty. 1 turn with confidence to the equilibrium 
of the country, — the old Puritan (quality, the quiet steadiness of 
determination to demand nothing wrong, and to submit to nothing 
wrong. 

There is a story of an honest old trader on the border, who, 
dealing with some tricky customers in barter trade, weight for 
weight, found, after he had parcelled out just measure, that his 
side of tlie scale, when his back was turned, was a pound short of 
even weight, and putting his hard old hand into the deficient bal- 
8 



58 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL,. 

ance against ihc frarid in tlie other, lie would bring the scales to 
the former equilibrium, sa3'ing, " M j hand weighs just a pound." 
In event of" fraud or violence by any part}' or on either side, I 
want the common sense and decenc}' of North and South, the 
equilibriiun of the whole countr}-, the nation's faith in God and 
man, to put the strong right hand of justice into the scale, and, 
demanding only what is right, suffering nothing that is wrong, 
insist that law, order, and an honest government shall prevail. 

When speaking at the church, I thought of an incident which, 
though trivial for introduction there, might be }n'operly introduced 
in connection with a toast that I suppose may come later in the 
dinner. I think wo have never fully recognized our obligations to 
woman at Bunker Hill. But her service there, a hundred years 
ago, was important, if not conspicuous. It is of record that the 
British artillery, which ultimately was brought into close action, 
with grape sweeping the redoubt and contributing to our defeat 
and momentar}' submission to the British arms, Avas at first embar- 
rassed by finding that twelve-pound balls had been provided for 
six-pounder guns. And some of the chroniclers, who know more 
about history than artillery, gravely say that the British necessa 
rily lost much time in ramming down such " disproportioned " 
shot into six-pounder guns. 

A little note, in regard to this matter, states that the blunder in 
regard to ordnance was owing to a certain officer, who, instead of 
attending to his duties, spent his time " in flirting with the school- 
master's daughters." Such was the influence of woman at Bunker 
Hill. And, certainly, she never used her powers of flirtation to 
greater national advantage ! 

Gentlemen, I have spoken so long at the church, and so long- 
now, that I must extend my cordial thanks to you for 3'our courtesy 
and patience, and bid you good-night. 



Gen. Sargent was frequently interrupted by appreciative 
applause and laughter. At the conclusion of his remarks he 
was coni]ielled to leave the hall, and was honored with three 
cheers as lie passed off tlie platform. 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 59 

^Mh Sentiment. 

"The Chief Marshal of the Roxbury Centennial." 

'Twas easy work to lead the van 

When nothing did perplex us ; 
But how did Burrcll feel that day 

When they gohhled him in Texas? 

INTRODUCTION I5Y TILE CHAIRMAN. 

Gentlemen : — I have the pleasure of now presenting to you tny 
friend, and j-onr friend, Gen. Burrell. [Applause.] 

RESPONSE OF GEN. T. S. BURRELL. 

Mr. Chairman, Felloav-Citizens and iSEiGiiuOKS : — 1 assure 
3'ou it gives me great pleasure to be here on this interesting 
occasion, and to meet so many whose faces are so very familiar 
to us all J and in behalf of the committee and the associations who 
first instigated and moved to have this grand gathering, I heartily 
thank you all, gentlemen. I hope^'ou will be pleased and satisfied, 
and go away hoping that next year, or at no very distant time, we 
shall have another just such gathering as this. It has been 
arranged, as 3'OU see, upon an economical scale ; for, taking into 
consideration the hard times, we did not intend to have anything 
very sumptuous set before you ; but we hope that real sociability, 
and the heartfelt shaking of the hand, will make up for the more 
expensive dinner which could have been provided. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, — I will take up but ver}' few 
minutes more of your time, because I know there are so many that 
you wish to hear from who can speak to j-ou so much better than I 
can. 1 feel that great and good results come from these gather- 
ings, for the}- engender a patriotic feeling. I believe it is a 
mistake of New Englanders that the}' don't have more of them. 
They had them in the olden times, and there are but few of 
the old militin who would not come together on the celebrations 



()() ROXP.ITRY CENTENNIAL. 

of anniversaries of ])oth the old and the new organizations. 
Althouii-h tliis is not strietlj' a centennial celebration, yet I trust 
that those of ns who are living seven years hence will liaA^e a 
military celebration of the Centennial Anniversni-y of the Old Rqx- 
bur}- Artiller}' Company, now known as the Eoxbur}' City Guards. 
We have the records of old organizations which have gone out 
from active life, and others have taken their places. In looking 
over the old rolls, from away l^ack in the early days, we find the 
names of many of the original settlers of the town, and when we 
look through the rolls of to-day we find the names of many of the 
descendants of those early settlers — good, sound, patriotic men, 
who love their countrv more than they do dollars and cents. The 
great trouble with us, I feel, is that we are so engrossed in busi- 
ness that we do not give time enough to the cultivation of patriotic 
sentiments and love for our fellow-men'. 

Our country is new% and we need to settle down and have that 
firm, steadfast love of country wdiich we find amongst the English 
nation. When you meet an Englishman, you find a man who 
thinks his country the greatest country upon earth ; his little island 
better than all the rest of the world. It is a good feeling, and I 
hope and trust we shall never forget our country, — I won't say 
right or wrong ; but I say, su[)port our countr}' and make it right. 
[Loud applause.] I know that is the sentiment of those who are 
now keeping up our military organizations, and who have come 
here to celebrate this anniversary on the sacred soil of these hills. 
I could but think, as I sat in the old church to-daj-, that that was 
the \ei'y spot where the first church was built ; that its steeple was 
riddled with bullets in revolutionary times, and that that was the 
spot where the patriotic men of the olden time met and took 
counsel together; that the town meetings were also held in the 
old church, and that it was surrounded by fortifications, and was 
made the centre of operations. No matter where we go, whether 
to the North, the South, the East, or the West, let us feel that we 
love oui' country, and our country's good. 

As llio s[)eak(>r took his seat, the company spontaneously 
rose and gave three cheers and a tiger '' For Our Old 
General." 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 61 

S^bxntb .Sentiment. 

" The Oi.i> Xoufolk Guards of Roxbuet." 

In days forever fled, 

Along each old-time street, 
The Norfolk Guards kept even step 

To fife and to drum-beat. 
These gray and reverend heads 

With us to-night are met — 
The remnants of a former band, 

With martial bearing yet ; 
And ma}' they all fall in once more 

On yonder shining banks. 
When to the last upon the roll 

The order comes, "Break Ranks 1 " 

[Applause.] 

INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

I am happ3' to present to a'ou a former commander of that 
ancient and patriotic association, — a gentleman whom ever}- Rox- 
bnr}' man knows, and whom everj'bod}' honors and respects. I 
mean Capt. James (^uild. [Applause and cheers.] 



RESPONSE OF CAPT. JAMES GUILD. 

^NIk. Chairman AND Gextlkmex : — "When I was asked to take 
command on this centennial da}- of the " Old jSTorfolk Guards," I 
assure you, sir, I felt exceedingh* embarrassed to know how 1 
could, after so iBan}- years' retirement to private life, again buckle 
on the armor, and, with credit to mj'sclf or with honor to the 
famous old corps, place myself at their head. 

And now, sir, I feel doubly embarrassed to be called upon to 
respond to the sentiment 3'ou have so kindly proposed. I have 
alwa3-s tried to follow, if in nothing else, in this one trait of reti- 
cence^ our great war general, who now commands tlio armies and 
the navv of these United States ; and if T could have followed him 



62 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

in military matters one-half as well, I, too, might possibl}' have 
become lamous. 

Besides, sir, tliere are "A'eterans" in my ranks to-day whose 
drum and fife, when a bo}-, I used to follow up hill and down dale ; 
for when the " Guards" came out, sir, the school was always dis- 
missed, and in many a long march I have helped to raise a dust till 
no doubt they wished us all grown-up men and in their places. And, 
Mr. Cliairman, these were the days that tried the soles of men's 
boots, when steam-cars and horse-cars were not availed of. And, 
under Gibbs and Doggett and Spooner and Curtis and Cook and 
Dudley, — to say nothing of Knower, who still lives, hale and 
hearty, I sincerely hope, — in those days, sir, the " Guards" thought 
nothing of a march to Salem and back, or to a muster at Dedham 
Plains or Quincy. And in those da3-s of "Old Lang S^'ne" the 
true soldier did not stop at every pump by the wayside to refresh ; 
and " Cochituate " was an unheard-of beverage. But ever and 
anon they came into line, and something of a darkish color in new 
" Ilingluim buckets" was passed along the ranks, and served from 
bright tin dippers. I don't know what it was, sir, but 1 always 
noticed that the men marched brisker, if not steadier, after partak- 
ing of it. The bo3's, too, sometimes found a little of it, vcr}' 
sweet and palatable, in the bottom of the dippers, and I think it 
nuist have been tlie same that Old Hip Van Winkle partook of on 
the mountain, for some of it was given to rae once up on the " Old 
Fort," now, alas, levelled and devoted to " weak Cochituate" only, 
and it allectcd me very nnich as Old Rip was atfectcd. I did not 
sleep as long as ho did, butwlien I awoke the day was far spent, no 
"Guards" were in siglit, and I wended my way down from this 
" Cold Water Mountain " a wiser if not a better hoy, and I made 
a solenni vow that, from that time forth, whatever else I did, I 
would " dare to do right." 

But in tliose days, Mr. Chairman, "training" seemed to many 
persons a good deal like " boy's play." Since then, however, the 
country has liad an experience that has led us to honor the militia. 
and to look to it as the salvation of the land. And some of these 
" veterans" of the " Old Guard," whicli I only followed as a boy, 
should, I think, have been asked to respond to the sentiment just 
given. For, sir, tliey could tell you of deeds of prowess on land 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 63 

and sea, on tented field and in endless marches, that we of more 
modern times know bnt little of. 

But, Mr. President, I meant to sa}^ only one word in acknowl- 
edgment of the honor 3-ou have done to the " Guards." And, if you 
will allow me, I will close, as in the olden time an after-dinner 
speech always closed, with a sentiment. 

Let me say, sir, " The memory of Gibbs and Doggett and 
Spooner and Curtis and Cook and Dudle}-." They were each and 
all " every inch a soldier." They have all, alas, marched on to 
that bourne from which no traveller and no soldier returns. 



"The Old Roxbury Aktilleuy." 

To tlio tune of Yankoe Doodle, 

In the time of '76, 
The old Artillery mustered 

When the land was in a fix. 
No guns did better service, 

No men did any more 
In honor of old Roxbury town 

Than our artillery corps. 

INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

For this ancient and honored association I invite Capt. John P. 
Jordan to respond. [Applause.] 

RESPONSE OF CAPT. JOHN P. JORDAN. 

Mr. President and Gentlemen: — A gentleman, tliis even- 
ing, — one of tlie previous speakers, — said that this centennial 
arose with the idea of our association. That is true, in a certain 
measure ; but, as soon as they became warmed up, they forgot about 
laboring for our association, and the}' onl}- thought of old Rox- 
bury, and that has been almost their entire idea. [Applause.] I 



64 EOXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

have l)ecn iiitrodiieed b}- rather an ancient name to-night ; but I 
assure you, genthMnen, that we have in our company to-da_y several 
of those men who paraded at the time that has been spoken of by the 
toast-master. We have many of them with us, and we have also 
many new men. Our association was formed principally to encourage 
the active compan}-. We have been taught a lesson b}' the great 
struggle through which we have passed, and that is, — which was 
the motto in 1784, when the company was organized, but which 
was in ill-repute before tlie war, — " In time of peace prepare for 
war." [Applause.] We, gentlemen, have seen the necessity of 
that. I believe that the militia comi)anies of this vState should not 
be too numerous, but that they should be good. I believe that 
the}^ should be to the State what West Point is to the nation, so 
that every private could be so drilled and perfected in this direc- 
tion that, shouhl his services be needed in the field, he would be 
able to come at a moment's warning. Gentlemen, I do not 
propose to take up much of the time, but I thank you one and all 
for the part you have given the Artillery Company in the observ- 
ance of this da}" ; and in saying that, it is not a mere compliment. 
Gentlemen, I cordially give way to some of those older and more 
eloquent gentlemen to whom you would gladly listen ; but I will 
give way to no man in mj^ honor, and love, and esteem for 
Old Roxbury. [Applause.] 



Uintb Sentiment. 

'The JIoxuuky Pulpit. 



Wc place within a pastor's power 

A tlieme where worth and virtue blend 

Reversing here the casuist's rule, 
Our Means will justify the end. 



INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

Gentlemen : — I remember, many years ago, when you honored 
me by making me Mayor of the old city of Roxbury [AjDplause], 
that during my administration treason raised its miserable stand- 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. (If) 

arcl, and I culled around me the leading men of Roxbiiry to assist 
me ill doing Avhat could be done to rescue an endangered country, 
and for the purpose of giving it back to libert}' and to law. And 
I remember that I then found no more efficient supporter than the 
Rev. Dr. Means, whom I now have the pleasure of presenting to 
you. 

HESPONSE OF THE KEV. JOHN O. MEANS, D.I). 

Mit. Presidknt and Felloav-Citizens : — 1 am sure you will all 
agree with me that there is but one man in this cit}' who ought to 
stand here ^o-night and respond to this toast to the clergy of Rox- 
bury. It was he whose eloquent lips brought men to sign the rolls 
in those days to which allusion has been made, and who pleaded 
for them in tlie j)ul[)it after thev had gone to the field, — our dear 
friend (Rev. Dr. (Jeorge Putnam), whose bodily health alone pre- 
vents him from being here, and who stands in the lineal succession 
from tlie first minister. 

It was not jnerely when the alarm of war rung out a few years 
ago that the authorities of Roxbury called the clergy to their aid. 
Tlity have been wont to do this from the first. A hiuidred 3'ears 
ago Roxbur}' had no minister, because he had laid down his life 
for his country when the great struggle for freedom was just com- 
mencing. There was then but one churcli and one meeting-house, 
which all the inhabitants were exi)ected to attend. No other 
denomination had come in, nor for forty years afterward did au}^ 
come in. The meeting-house stood where it now stands. When 
AVashington was beleaguering Boston, in 1775, Roxbury was one of 
the fortified posts. Rev. Amos Adams, who for twentj'-two or 
three years had been the faithful pastor, was indefatigable in min- 
istering to the troops, as well as to his own people. After preach- 
ing faithfully to his congregation, he held a service with a regiment 
of soldiers in the open air. The exposure, one Sunday, after all 
his fatiguing labors, says his biographer, brought on a fever, from 
which he died. So it came about that during the earl^- 3-ears of 
the Revolution tiiis ancient town and church was without a 
minister. 

It is proper to say, and as we are speaking of things a hundred 
!) 



QQ ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

years ago it is not indelicate to say, that the pulpit of Roxbiuy 
has had a large influence in determining the character and growth 
of the town. I was interested in noticing that our eloquent orator 
this afternoon occu[)ied no small part of his time in telling what 
the ministers had said and done. He would not have been true to 
history, and he would have missed some of the most important 
materials of liislory, if he had done otherwise. In the early davs 
of the colon}' there could be no complete organization of a town 
till a church had been gathered. There might be two or more 
churches in one town ; there could be no town Avithout one church. 
In an important sense, therefore, each town had its very beginning 
in the church. General Sargent has spoken in fit Janguage of 
Thomas Welde as the first minister, and of tlie great influence he 
exerted. But it is a little difficult to say who should be regarded as 
the first minister of Roxbur}'. There were often two ministers to 
each church in those days, one called the pastor and tlie other 
called the teacher. Rev. Thomas Welde was ordained as pastor 
in July, 1G32, and in November following Rev. John Eliot was 
ordained as teacher. Neither alone could be called the minister : 
the teacher Eliot, I think, was the most of a minister. Mr. Welde 
took a more active part in the civil affairs of the colon}' than in 
the spiritual welfiire of the town. In 1641 he Avent to England, on a 
political eirand, and never returned. John Eliot, on the other 
hand, lived and labored here unremittingly till his death in 1690, 
nearly sixty years. He was one of the great lights of New Eng- 
land ; liis fame filled Europe ; he made Roxbury known the world 
over as the town whica had for its minister the great Apostle to 
the Indians. It seems fair to call John Eliot the first minister. 

Tlie town has owed its prosperity in part to the eminent ability 
and to the eelebrit}' of some of its ministers. In early days they 
discharged a variety of functions. Eliot was not only one of the 
founders of our Latin School ; by his will he endowed a Grammar 
vSchool in Jamaica Plain. He was one of the authors of the first 
book published in English America. The gentlemen of the press 
will be interested to know that the first printing press brought to 
English America was procured by a minister, and set up in the 
house of a minister, President Dunster of Harvard College. The 
first issue was the Freeman's Oath ; the second, an Almanac ; the 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL,. 07 

third issue and first volniiie was the Bay Psalm Book, which has 
recently been so mncli talked about, and one early copy of which 
has been sold at such a fabulous price. Thomas Welde and John 
Eliot, the two Roxbury ministers, with Rev. Richard Mather of 
Dorchester, were the authors of this famous book. 

As our toast-master has been rolling out his rhymes upon us, I 
have been thinking of a criticism which one of the Cambridge men 
of that day made ui)ou the Roxbury poets, for there were critics in 
Cambridge from the earliest times. Mr. Shepard, of Cambridge, 
addressed the authors of the Bay Psalm Book : — 

" Yc Roxbury poets, keep clear of the crime 
Of missing to give us very good rhyme ; 
And you of Dorchester, your verses lengthen, 
But with the text's own words you will then strengthen." 

We heard many pleasant stories of John Eliot this afternoon. 
He was facetious and witty, and ver}' entertaining in conversation. 
Above all he was remarkable for his kindliness of spirit and his 
charity. But there were bounds to his charity. The ^ood minister 
who gave the poor w'oman all his quarter's salary, because he could 
not untie the knots in his handkerchief in which the prudent parish 
treasurer, knowing Mr. Eliot's weakness, had tied up the money, 
could not abide certain persons, — and many to-daj- cannot abide 
them any better ; he could not abide the men who part their hair 
in the middle. " For men to wear their hair with a luxurious, 
fa?menine, delicate prolixity," saj's Cotton Mather; " to preserve 
no plain distinction of their sex b}' the hair of their head and face ; 
much more for men to disfigure themselves by hair that is not their 
own ; and, most of all, for ministers of the gospel to ruffle it in 
excesses of this kind, he could not abide. But the hair of them 
that professed religion, before his death, became too long for him 
to swallow, and he would express himself with a boiling zeal con- 
cerning it, until at last he gaA'e over, with some regret, complaining 
' The lust is become insuperable.' " 

Nowadays clergymen, we are told, have no business to know 
anything about science. One of our earl}- ministers, Samuel Dan- 
forth, a colleague with Eliot from 1650 to 1674, was eminent as a 
mathematician and astronomer. He published almanacs, and 



()^! ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

gave ji description of the comet of 1(jG4. Mrs. Eliot, the minister's 
wife, was " skilled in pln'sics and chiriirgery, and dispensed man}- 
safe, good and useful medicines unto the poor tliat had occasion 
for them ; and some hundreds of sick and weak and maimed people 
owed praises to God for the bene[it whi(;h therein the}' freelj 
received of her." At that time, it must l)e remembered, there was 
hardly a regular pliA^sician in the Massachusetts Buy Colony. 

The testimony of those who have written about the matter is in- 
variably of the great ability, eloquence, learning and piety of the 
Roxbury ministry. There has been also, on the part of the people, 
a most honorable and kindly recognition of the services of their 
pastors. John Eliot would not consent to receive a salary raised 
by a town rate ; it was raised bj' voluntary contribution. In his 
extreme age, for fear his people might not be forward, on account 
of the expense, to procure such additional pulpit ministration as 
the}' needed, he proposed to relinquish his salary. " 'Tis possible 
you may think the burden of maintaining-two ministers may lie too 
heavy for you ; but I deliver you from that fear ; I do here give 
back my salary to the Lord Jesus Christ ; and now, brethren, you 
may fix that upon any man that God shall make a pastor for you." 
" liut his church, with a handsome reply, assured him that they 
would count his xevy j^resence worth a salary, when he should be 
so sujicrannuated as to do no further service for them." 

How hainnonious have been the relations between the ministers 
and people of Roxbur\- appears in the fact that, with the single 
exception of Thos. Welde, who returned to lingland, no minister 
has ever been dismissed, — I s[)eak of the old chureh which covered 
the whole ground till recent years ; all the pastors have died in 
otiice. The pastorate of two of the first ministers, Eliot and 
his successor, Nehemiah AYalter, cover a i^ei'iod of one hundred 
and eighteen years ; and the pastorate of two of the last. Dr. Put- 
nam, — long may he continue among us! — and Dr. Porter, his 
predecessor, alread}' cover a period of ninety-four years. 

Let us hope that in the future, as in the past, the Roxbury pulpit 
may deserve and may exert an influence for good in all directions, 
as lai-ge as is legitimate. 



KOXBlUn' CENTENNIAL. 69 

^'Cntb Sentiment. 

" Ouu RoxBuiiY Patuivucii." 

Once; on the vcssol's deck he stood, and once he held a pen, 
And honors full and plentiful have come to him since then ; 
At fourscore years he proved himself a seaman good and brave, 
For he sailed into the Senate on a sweeping tidal wave. 

INTIiODUCTION HY THE CIIAUIMAN. 

Our Roxbury Nestor ; our ablest representative of the press ; 
our fifth INIayor ; ahnost our ohlest inliabitant, and our 3'oungest 
Senator. I have the pleasure of presenting to you Hon. John S. 
Slekper. [Applause and three prolonged cheers.] 

RESPONSE OF HON. JOHN S. SLEEPER. 

Mr. President : — I am almost overwlielmed at this welcome, 
and at the recei)tion I have received from the citizens of Roxbury. 
I have witnessed the glowing fires of patriotism which this Cen- 
tennial celebration has kindled among our [)eople, and listened to 
the stirring, eloquent and exceeding!}' interesting address of the 
orator of the dav with much gratification, and I gladh' seize this 
opportunit}' to offer a few remarks of a suggestive nature, on a 
subject far removed from nrjself, but somewhat coimected with 
the spirit of this occasion, and in which I feel a deep interest. It 
is, Mr. President, a singular tact, that that portion of the great 
city of Boston — that section in whicli we live, and whose glories 
and honors we this da}' commemorate — is no longer known in 
any official proceedings at Roxl)ur3'. It is true we still have our 
" Roxbury Charitable Societ}'," our '' Roxbuiy Latin School," our, 
" Roxbur}- Savings Institution," our " Roxbur}' Athen.X'um," and 
our Roxbury military companies. But Roxbury itself, — old Rox- 
burv, — one of the earliest settled towns in New England, after an 



70 EOXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

existence of almost tAvo centuries and a half, with a record of 
which any township or city in the Commonwealth may be proud, — 
the home of the Apostle Eliot, the Dudleys, the Sumners and the 
Warrens, — no longer exists ! It is not onl}' erased from the map 
of Massachusetts, but it is no longer met with in the public 
records ! "• Boston Highlands " has taken its place, — a name not 
only inappropriate, but possessing little beauty and no significance. 
Why this change was effected I could never learn. AYhen it was 
suggested, soon after the annexation to Boston, I was opposed to 
it, and lifted my feeble voice against it; but, in vain. Time has 
rather strengthened than weakened ni}' repugnance. A distin- 
guished writer has said that '• a rose by any other name will smell 
as sweet." I do not believe the assertion. I know that the name 
"Boston Highlands" does not sound so musically in my ears, or 
carry such fragrance to my nostrils, as the simple word " Rox- 
bury," surrounded and beautified and glorified with a halo of 
pleasing and sacred and patriotic associations. Esau, when 
pressed by hunger, sold his birthright for a mess of pottage ; but 
the residents of Roxbury, not realizing at the time the revolution- 
ary nature of the act, parted with the long-cherished name of 
" Roxbur}-," without an}' apparent reason, and without receiving 
an^- equivalent; for the name of "Boston Highlands" can never 
be regarded as such. But there is some consolation left. The 
name of Roxbury is not irrevocably lost. Boston Highlands, I 
believe, has never been established by any formal act, and the 
post-office station is still known as Roxbur}' throughout tlie Union. 
Then let us take back the good old name of Roxbury, wliich 
cannot be too often repeated, and which we have reason to regard 
as a sacred deposit. Let it be restored as identifying the precincts 
from which it has been so strangely spirited, and let it be firinl}' 
fastened there by an adamantine chain. 

And now, INIr. President, I will offer as a sentiment, " Roxbury 
in the })ast ! Roxbury- in the present! and Roxbury forever!" 
[Applause and cheers.] 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 71 

(L-(cbcntb Srnttmcnt. 

" The RoxnuKY Bak." 

Ambition sought no loftier goal. 

Respect could reach no higher, 
Than that profound esteem we paid 

In old times to the " Squire." 

INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

I have now the pleasure of introducing to you a gentleman who 
has probabh" tried cases for or against almost all of jou, — one of 
the most eloquent respresentatives of the bar, — lion. James M. 
Keith. 

RESPONSE OF HON. JAMES M. KEITH. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: — If it be true that I have 
tried cases either for or against almost all of the gentlemen here, 
I would infer that I should be the last man that the}' would desire 
to hear from. A response to this sentiment would come more 
fittingly from the Nestor of the bar. I suppose the reason that he 
is not called upon to respond is on account of tiie arduous duties 
that he has performed during the day. M}' experience with the 
Roxbur}' bar dates back thirty 3'ears. It is thirty years since I 
became a citizen of Roxbur^-, and a student at law ; at that time, 
knowing very few upon these pleasant hills and in these valley's. 
It was not, sir, the strong attraction of the men of Roxbur}' that 
brought me here, but one of the daughters. [Laughter.] And 
liaving been drawn by female influence to the citizens of Roxbury, 
I have never, sir, from that moment, regretted my connection with 
it. [Applause and laughter.] When I came to Roxbury, the 
leading men of the bar — and I may say the leading men of the bar 
of the County of >sorfolk — were, first and foremost, the Hon. 
John J. Clark, who was at that time the first Mayor of the city of 
Koxlniry. He has since filled a high position in the State, and 



72 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

has received an appointment upon tlie Superior Bench, which he 
declined ; a practitioner to whom we all look with respect, and 
whose (botsteps we delight to follow. Another of the leading- 
members of tlie bar of that da}', and with whom I came into 
intimate relations, was the lion. David A. Simmons, a man 
who had come from the conntr}- into Boston early in life, and 
fouglit Iiis way up, inch by inch, to a high position in his pro- 
fession. He occupied for several years the position of counsellor, 
under Governor Everett. He had been a senator of the State, and 
through life retained an active interest in public alfairs, and the 
prosperity of this his adopted Innne and city. Another distin- 
guished member of the bar was the Hon. Francis J. Hilliard, who 
has written many text-books on tlu; law. His books upon torts and 
sales, and mortgages of real properly, liave a very leading in- 
fluence to this day. And, although living in a distant cily, we still 
look back with pleasure to our association with him in former times. 
Another •\ounger member of the bar was the Hon. William 
Whiting, a leading practitioner in patent cases, and whose recent 
departure from your midst, after having Ijeen elevated to Congi'ess, 
makes it entirely superfluous for me to dwell upon his many vir- 
tues. These were the members of the bar at that time ; and since 
then man}' younger members have grown up to take their places. 
And altliough the Roxbury bar embraces a very small number, I 
venture to sa}- that its members have taken full rank in all the 
honors of the profession in proportion to their numbers. It has 
furnished, during my residence in Roxbury, a judge of the Probate 
Court, the Hon. William S. Leland, whose services as an upright 
judge, following in the footsteps of his honored father, who 
preceded liim, you will remember, and you all look back with 
moui-nful regret to the many social and pleasant relations of life 
with him now severed forever. Roxbury has also furnished, as its 
quota from the Itar, a district attorney of the Southeastern Dis- 
trict, consisting of Norfolk and Plymouth counties ; it has fur- 
nished a commonwealth's attorney for tlie County of Suffolk ; it 
has also fui'uished in move modern times a Mayor for the city of 
Boston, and a (iovernor for the Conunonw'ealth of Massachusetts. 
[Applause.] To what higher and greater honors you may attain, 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 73 

sir, we know not. [Applause.] But we ma}- say in the language 
of the weird sisters : — 

" Glainis thou art, and Cawdor, 
And shalt be what thou art promised." 

The practice of the profession of the law is a high and honorable 
one. I have often been amused when the question has been asked 
ina somewhat quizzical and cynical way, whether an honest man 
could be a lawyer. [Laughter and applause.] Why, no one but 
an honest man has any business to be a lawyer. No one but an 
honest man can conceive the high dignit}' and honor of the position 
of a lawj'er. The lawA'crs of this country have marked and fixed 
the history of the, country- ; the}' have fixed its legislation; and 
they have given tone and character to the institutions of this 
country ; they have created respect for the law and its peaceful en- 
forcement ; and to-day if 3'ou find a man who is thoroughly grounded 
in the law, he looks to the Constitution of these United States as 
the foundation and bulwark of our liberties. I am not responsible, 
nor is the profession responsible, for tlie idiosyncrasies of the bar ; 
but I have the right to say that the man who correcth' conceives 
the duties and assumes the position of a high-toned lawyer has 
need of all the genius awarded to man ; he has need of all the 
breadth of mind, of all the knowledge, and science, and art, and 
labor, and skill which he can command to attain success in the 
practice of the law. There is no knowledge too high to be of ser- 
vice, and there is nothing so low and remote in the labors and 
duties of life that is hot serviceable as an illustration of the prin- 
ciples that he is called upon to maintain. 

Now, sir, turning to another subject, I could not help listening 
with a great deal of pleasure to the sentiment announced here this 
evening in honor of the President of the United States, " whoever 
he might be now, or in the future." Any man who is legally 
elected to that high office should be honored and respected as 
the chief executive of this great nation. All must feel that no 
man has any right to give up to party what is due to his countr}-. 
[Applause.] 1 believe that the great body of the people, of all 
10 



74 EOXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

parties, in the United States, are thoroughly honest :it heart, and 
desire the best interests of the country ; and it is not for one party 
to assume all of the honor, all of the morality, and all of the in- 
tegrity in the country. It is a base falsehood upon humanity, arid 
upon mankind, for any party to assume that ; the truth is that the 
great bod}' of the people of all parties are honest and desire the 
best interest of the country. [Applause.] We have a government 
of law, and its great significance is, that it is a government of law. 
Our Constitution provides how our electors shall be chosen by the 
people, and how their choice shall be inaugurated after he is chosen. 
The principle of the government is that the majority shall rule ; 
and when an^Mnan is elected by a clear majority, it is the right and, 
the duty of that man to assume the responsibility of the govern- 
ment. [Applause.] 

Now, sir, I cannot believe that we have had eighty years' ex- 
perience in constitutional government for nothing. I cannot 
believe that this government, that has attained such magnificent 
results in the past, is to come to naught under the influence of a 
high party spirit which is unwilling to yield when the majority at- 
tained is on the one side or the other. I believe there is still suffi- 
cient patriotism and integrity in this country, and in the people, to 
maintain a republican form of government, however part}- interests 
ma}' clash and whoever may be successful. Why, if we all had 
patriotism enough to defend our country against the assaults of a 
rebellion organized in one part of the country, haven't we patriotism 
enough to yield when one party is swept from power b}' the success 
of the other? Most assuredly we have. We are not to give up 
this magnificent republic, extending from ocean to ocean, with its 
forty millions of people ; we are not to give that up to anarchy and 
revolution, but in this Centennial 3'ear we will not forget the lessons 
of one year ago, when we sang tlie song of peace on earth and good- 
will to men. We were honest and patriotic then, and we will be 
honest and patriotic still ; and so let us once more unite and secure 
peace on earth, and especiall}' peace throughout these reunited 
States of America. [Applause.] 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 75 

Cinclftfj SciTtimcnt. 

"The Roxbury City Fathers." 

'Twas in the days of Auld Lang Syne — the date is not at hand — 
There met within our City Hall our primal civic band ; 
And one was young and Little, — he is old and Little now ; 
But before his gathered honors we must reverently bow. 
He fills up now the city flats, sees the institutions run, 
And as a City Father he ranks A No. L 

INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

Gentlemen : — I have a high respect for the men who have been 
members of the Cit}' Council of the cit}- of Boston, but I believe 
that they arc in no respect superior to the men who w^ere members 
of the Board of Alclerinen and of the Common Council of the city 
of Roxbury. I regret that ex- Alderman Samuel Little, who was 
expected to respond to this toast, is not able to be present this 
evening ; and I shall 'invite Major George Curtis to respond in 
his place. [Applause and cheers.] 

RESPONSE OF MAJOR GEORGE CURTIS. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : — You may well be sure that 
I feel embarrassed in rising to respond to this toast, and I regret 
that Mr. Little is not present. But, gentlemen, when I was called 
to take part in tliis celebration, I thought that it belonged to some 
other citizen who is recognized in some of the old organizations. 
But I always stand read}' to perform mj- dut}' when called upon, and 
I accepted the position I have taken to-day ; and as I have ever 
found it in the cit}' of Roxbury, tlie militaiy are always on hand 
whether it rains or shines. I was perfecth' astonished to find so 
many military and citizens out on this storm}- day. But, as I said, 
when you call upon the militia of Roxbury- the}- always turn out. 
It gives me great pleasure to find that the military of Roxbury 



7() ROXBUKY CEXTEXiNIAL. 

keeps 111) its organization. But I want to say that tlie military of 
Roxbnrv are not snpported by what tliey get from the State, and 
they have to put their hands into their pockets to keep up their 
organization. And I want to say to the citizens that it is their 
duty to put their hands into their pockets and see to it that not 
one of the military companies should want for funds to keep up their 
organization. [Applause.] In response to the toast I will relate 
a little incident which occurred in the Mayor's otlice whilst I was 
one of the Aldermen. Mayor Dearborn, whom you all knew, was 
a verj' popular man amongst us, and an honored and respectable 
citizen, who has now gone to his long home. This occasion was 
a time when the firemen had petitioned for pay. They never 
received paj' in those days, and the}' had come to the Board of 
Aldermen for it. A meeting of the committee was called to see 
what to do about paying tlie firemen. As 3'ou very well know, 
we had a City Clerk of Roxbury who held the position a great 
man}' years, and whom we all loved to honor ; and we think a 
great deal of him at the present time. His head is now covered 
with white hair, and we honor him to-day [Joseph "VV. Tucker]. 
[Applause.] His Honor the Mayor opened the meeting of the 
committee, and this gentleman [Mr. Tucker] came in He said 
to the JNIayor, '^ It will never do to pay these firemen in the world." 
— '• Well, what shall we do?" — " If you pay those firemen vou 
will have the whole of the citizens down on 3'ou." — " Well," sa3's 
his Honor, " what shall we do? Shall we pay them, or shall we 
not?" — " Well, if you do not pa}' them you will have the whole 
firemen of the city down on you." Mayor Dearborn turned round 
in his quiet way, and said, "■ Well, Mr. Clerk, what shall we do?" 
— " Do the best you can under the existing circumstances." 
[Laughter] Gentlemen, in conclusion I offer you the senti- 
ment, '' The military of Roxbury : may their light never be less 
than at the present time." [Applause.] 



ROXBURY CENTEKNIAL. /V 

Ojirtcenib .Sentiment. 

"Tiri; KoxiUKY' IMeciianic." 

He builds, and paints, and mends first-rate, 

And his plumbing we can brag on. 
And never does our patience tire 

In waiting for the wagon. 

IXTRODUCTIOX BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

For this bocU' of men, who have done so much for the growth 
and the honor of Old Roxbury, I invite Cupt. Joiix A. Scoit to 
respond. [Apphiuse and cheers.] 

RESPONSE OF CAPT. JOHN A. SCOTT. 

Mk. President and Fkllow-Citizexs : — I fully appreciate the 
honor that is conferred npon me on this occasion to speak for so 
large a body of men as is represented here to-night in the Roxbury 
mechanics : for I find, as my eye runs over this hall, that I 
am speaking for the largest representation of tliose here. And, 
although these gra}' hairs have cropped out and the hair dye has 
failed to conceal them, yet I feel that I am but a stripling when I 
look around and see so manj' mechanics here whose 3ears number 
threescore and ten ; and, therefore, I feel it more of an honor to 
speak for so honorable a body of men. The organization which 
I represent in a military' point of view — the Old Roxbury Artillery 
— has alwa^'s been composed of mechanics, and I could not help 
thinking, when listening to Gen. Sargent, why this organization 
lasted so long was because, when it was first started, its first com- 
mander, he told us, was a minister. He laid the foundation well, 
and then the meclianics built upon that good foundation. [Ap- 
plause.] 

From the time of tlie Old Roxbury Artillery down to the Cit}' 
Guards its commanders were mechanics, and I believe the officers 
were men made up from that class ; and I could not but think 



78 ROXBTTRY CENTENNIAL. 

to-night, when Gen. Sargent w.is telling ns of the mischief which 
occurred at Bunker Hill, — wlien the quarter-master failed to see 
that the balls would not fit the guns, — that if some of these Rox- 
bur}' bummers had been there, the}' would have made the holes fit 
the balls [Loud laughter and applause], and then they would have 
been ready to fire the charge [Applause] ; because I have never 
known this old organization to be in such a place that they could 
not find themselves out. I remember, when but a bo}', seeing 
tliem march under command of the venerable John M. Stanton 
(who is not able to be here to-night on account of ill-health), to 
Portland, and all the citizens turned out to see them ; and the 
women were so enthusiastic that they stayed in camp all night, 
and the question arose among those military men, What shall we 
do to make room for these ladies? The Roxbury meu soon found 
a way. They fixed the tents into berths, and gave tlie women the 
lower berths. [Applause and laughter.] As they came marching 
home beliind the old Boston Brass Band, under the leadership of 
Flagg, though tired from fatigue, when we came up State street every 
man braced up and walked like a boy. And when T look around 
to-night, and see how many Roxbury boj's are here, — and you can 
count them upon the ends of your fingers, because they are scat- 
tered all over the State, — and I am hai)py to say one who went 
down to build Rhode Island is liore to-night, and so they are here 
from Maine to Georgia. They are sometimes called the mud-sills 
of society ; ^-et when those mechanics of Roxbury liave constructed 
the printing-press, and have been at the laying of the foundation 
of almost every good institution started in this country, I have 
thought that they were not only mud-sills, but the very top-stones 
of society. [Applause.] 

I feel that, although honorably as tlie clergy, and the bar, and 
the Legislature have been represented here to-night, the Roxbury 
mechanic is second to none [Applause] ; and it has stirred my soul 
to its veiy depths to-day, when 1 have seen gathered here these 
old white-haired men, these men who have spent so man}' happy 
hours and years together, that have been separated for years and 
have now come togetlier to-day, and we see them shaking the 
friendly hand; and, while their bodies are tottering, we see the 
fire flash from their eyes, and I feel that the grip they gave each 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 79 

other brought up recollections of a happy bo3-hood. I was glad to 
be here, and I am glad to be permitted to speak for those men at 
this gathering. I feel that it is an honor to speak for the Roxbury 
mechanics, and I feel that it is an honor to be a member of the 
Roxbury Artillery Association. Thej' have always been readj"^ 
when called upon. On this occasion the}' were called upon at 
short notice, and you all see how goodly a representation they 
have here to-night. I hope, gentlemen, that when we are called 
here again, we shall have as many, if not more, and that a'Ou will 
never forget the old organizations, and that you will alwa^'s feel a 
pride in the anniversaries of these old organizations. In behalf of 
the committee who have arranged this celebration, I thank you for 
your presence here to-night, and for your assistance in this anni- 
versary. [Applause.] 



"The Old Eoxbuky Fireman." 

When flames commence their mad career, 
And devastate with savage ire, 
The best of " Munroe doctrine " is 
To rush the engine to the fire. 

INTRODUCTIOX BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

For these gallant and faithful men I think j-ou will all agree with 
me that none other than Capt. James Munroe, the head of the old 
Roxbury Fire Department, should respond. [Applause.] I will 
call upon him. 

Capt. Munroe was unavoidably absent, and there was no 
response. 



80 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 



ififtfcntb Sentiment. 



Post 2G, Gkaxd Arjit of the Republic. 

Brave men in war, modest in peace, 
They bring tlie laurels from afar; 
No nobler title can they wear 
Than comrades of the G. A. R. 



INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

As citizens of Roxbuiy we are all proud that there were born 
on our soil men by whom American libert}', in her infanc}', was 
rocked. We are proud that in the subsequent war with Great 
Britain there were men from Roxbury who gallantly defended the 
flag which their fathers first flung to the breeze. And in the recent 
war of the Rebellion we are proud that the sons of Roxbur}' proved 
themselves worthy of their fathers, and came to the rescue of an 
endangered republic. I have the pleasure of calling upon Colonel 
Giles II. Rich to respond to this toast. [Applause.] 



RESrONSE OF COLONEL GILES H. RICH, PAST COMMANDER 
OF POST 2(5, G. A. R. 

Mr. CiiAiiniAX and Gentlemen : — I am quite overwhelmed with 
the feeling that the task of replying for the Grand Army has acci- 
dentall}' fallen on this occasion into very incompetent hands. I 
plead guilty to one charge in the sentiment, and that is the charge 
of modest}-. I did not come here expecting to reply to any toast. 
The one who is in the position to reply, and who should be 
expected to do so, is not present. I believe he sent a letter, and I 
think it had better l)e read ; and if you are not satisfied with that, 
our worthy toast-master himself could have spoken words fitting 
the subject and the occasion which I am not competent to do. The 
Grand Army of the Republic, as we all know, is composed entirely 
of those who went forth in the late rebellion — which I may say 
with some modesty — to save the countiy. How much the great 



EOXBUIIY CENTENNIAL. 81 

success was indebted to their efforts, or how much it was indebted 
to a higher power, it is not necessary to discuss ; the gratitude of 
the nation has placed the responsibility' of success upon them. 
They did their dut}', as the}' understood it, and as well as the}' 
could, and returned home. When the}- returned home, sir, they 
found that their duties were not yet completed ; they found the 
widows and orphans of comrades, who had laid down their lives in 
defence of their countr\', — comrades whom they had assisted to 
bury beneath the southern soil, — tlic}' found these widows and 
orphans dependent to a certain extent upon them, — not actually 
dependent upon their purses, but dependent upon these returned 
soldiers to keep alive a public sentiment which we know is very apt 
to die unless some means are adopted to strengthen and sustain it. 
It seemed necessarj-, therefore, that these returned soldiers should 
organize into an association for such a puri)()se. It seems to me, 
sir, that no object could be more holy tluui that. How well it has 
succeeded it is not necessary to call to mind. I venture to sa}' 
that in Koxbuiy no disabled soldier, no widow of a deceased sol- 
dier, and no fatiierless child of a departed comrade, has been 
actually obliged to suffer from want. 1 believe the reason of that 
lies chiefly in the exertions of the Grand Army of tlie Republic. 
We have heard a great deal to-night about old RoxVhut. I was 
not born in this city, though reared here from early life ; but I 
have long since learneel to revere the name, and have been glad to 
love and honor the citizens of Roxbury. I am glad to see, pre- 
siding over this banquet, one who, although he has partly expatri- 
ated himself from our midst, b}' his presence to-night shows tliat 
his heart is witli us still, and that he is true to the old name. I 
am glad that old Roxbur}' has answered the call and seconded the 
efforts of those who have endeavored lo carry out the objects of our 
organization. I know of no place in the Commonwealth, and I am 
aware of no place in the country, where our organization has been 
so liberally seconded b}' the patriotic, large-minded citizens of a 
district, as Post 2(3 has been supported b}' these liberal spirits in 
our midst. It is significant of the same patriotic spirit that, as 
we ha^'e learned to-da}-, has prevailed in Roxbury from its earliest 
existence ; and I have no doubt tiiat that spirit will continue in this 
place so long as there is any necessity for the Grand Arm}'. Mr. 
11 



82 KOXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

Cliairmnn, tlie (tI'uikI Army of the Republic, as I said, is com- 
posed of men upon whom tlie defence of the nation was placed. If 
there shall be a time, hereafter, when tlie nation shall be in danger, 
I confidently assure you that the^y will be as ready to respond then 
as they were iu the jjast. [Applause.] 



<§h'twntb Scnttnunt. 

" The Old Koxbury Towx Officers." 

No praises from our lips shall fall 
More cheerful or more fervent, 
Than those which honor and commend 
The faithful pnl)lic servant. 

INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

Gentlemen: — Tlie words '' Roxbury Town Oliicers" recall to 
my mind, and to 3'our minds, the name of a gentleman who has gone 
to his rest. I refer to Joseph W. Dudley, the Town Treasurer and 
City Treasurer of Roxbury [Applause] , and I know you will pardon 
me for availing myself of this opportunity' to render a passing 
tribute to his great heart, and to his [)atriotic and faithful public 
services. Roxbury would not be RoxI)ury without the presence 
of our yenerable City Clerk, Avhom I now have the pleasure of 
introducing to you, with the assurance that he will "do the best 
he can under tlie circumstances." [Laughter and loud applause.] 



RESPONSE OF JOSEPH W. TUCKER, ESQ., FORMERLY CHAIR- 
iMAN OF THE LAST BOARD OF SELECTMEN OF THE TOWN, 
AND CITY CLERK OF ROXBURY. 

Mr. President anj» CiENTLE:\iEN : — I did not think of making a 
speech at this late hour of the night. My friend Mr. Clarlie has 
called himself an old man ; but I speak to you to-night as a 3'oung 
man [Applause and laughter], aUliough i was born many years 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL,. 83 

before him. AYhat I want to impress upon j'our minds to-night, 
young men of Koxburv, is, to preserve the old name of Rox- 
bur}-. [Applause.] 3Iy friend Capt. Sleeper has anticipated me 
in some remarks I intended to make. I do not like the name 
Boston Highlands. [Cries of " Good ! " Long applause.] I want 
people to remember Koxburv wjien thev post their letters. If they 
send their letters to Roxbury, they will come direct to Roxbur}- ; if 
the}- send them to Boston Highlands, they will go round about, and 
probabl}- be found at the dead-letter office. [Applause and laugh- 
ter.] The name of old Roxbury, sir, is dear to me, for I have 
lived here many years : and my friends have been here who have 
done me many favors which I shall never forget. Why, sir, 
when 1 presided at a town meeting in 1840, I could call almost 
ever}- man by name who Avas at the head of a family ; but now, 
sir, I hardly know anybody, times have changed so nuich. Then, 
sir, we did business up quick. It didn't take so long to make a 
President then as it does now. [Applause, laughter, and renewed 
ap|)lause.] We were faithful, we were true, sir, and we meant to 
be true. The old Roxbury town officers did business straight ; 
the}- didn't keep their books by double entry. [Laughter and 
applause.] They didn't have to make two entries for everything ; 
but they made one entry, and -there it stood correcth' [Applause], 
and if their cash was short they put their hands into their pockets 
and made it good. [Applause and laughter.] Why, Mr. Presi- 
dent, when I settled with ni}- predecessor, when I took the office 
of Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, he put his hand into his 
pocket, took out a roll of bills and some change, handed them to 
me, and said, " That is the balance I owe the town." I said, "All 
right." I have no doubt it was all correct to a cent. lie kept the 
accounts in his head [Laughter and applause], but his iieart was 
right, sir, and those men alwaA-s had their heads clear. [Applause.] 
Why, sir, speaking of the " Norfolk Guards," I joined them in 1823 ; 
and I speak of it at this time because fifty-one years ago the seven- 
teenth of last Juno, on that beautiful and that bright morning after 
a storm, which we expected would last over that day, I, sir, went 
out in that company, with my uniform on, at the laj-ing of the cor- 
ner stone of Bunker Hill Monument. I never felt better in my 
life, and no man could have felt prouder than I when I went out to 



84 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

do duty for Ihnt noble man, (U'lioral Lnfayelte, to escort him to 
Blinker TTill [Applause] ; that man Avho came here nearly fifty 
years before to lielp us malce a country, — and we made it, and 
we have kept it. [Ai)plause.] Why, sir, it seemed as if it was 
play foi- us, that (h\y : it seemed as, if the good God had watered 
the streets and waslied everything clean ; he gave us his bright 
sun to cheer us on our way, and we marched as T think men never 
marclied before; and every man of us did our <hity, and we did 
it tli(! best we could. And there is another circumstance. Fifty 
years ago the fifth daj' of last September, we marched, — because 
we never rode then; we marched everywhere, — and we went to 
Salem ; and we manoeuvred on Salem common for over tw^o hours. 
We took our dinner there, and after four o'clock in the afternoon, 
witli all our accoutrements on for camp duty, we marched to the 
old town-house in Roxburv, with the thermometer at nearly 90" ; 
and when we reached there we were nearly* tired out. I assure you. 
But we did the work and felt proud that we accom])lis::ed it as we 
did. Now, I want to saj^ to the young men, tr}' to reinstate the 
name of old Roxbury. I don't want to have Boston Highlands 
come in first. I don't object to calling it the Highlands of Boston ; 
but if anybod}' asks you where the Highlands of Boston are, tell 
them they are in that |)art of Boston called Roxburv. [Long- 
continued applause.] I didn't think of speaking so long, Mr. 
President; but I will close by giving you a sentiment: "The 
name of old Roxbury ; may it never be forgotten, but be remem- 
bered as the birthplace of Warren and the many brave soldiers 
and jtatriotic men who have lived here." [Loud ap[)lause.] 



Capt. Scott called for three cheers for '' one of the men 
who marched at the lavins- of the corner-stone of the lUmker 
Hill Monument," and the whole company responded with 
vijior. 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 85 

Sibxntccntb ,$^entimcnt. 

" The Koxbcry House Guards." 

They mountod full ;i hundred men upon their last parade : 

Their colors -were all scarlet, their steeds were all milk-white. 

Tliough guns should roar and foes should charge, they would not be 

dismayed — 
For never was a man unhorsed or Horse Guard put to flight. 

INTRODUCTIOX BY THE CHAIRMAN, 

I feel a special interest in this organization. It was created 
daring ni}- nia3-oralty, and for a patriotic purpose, which it faith- 
fulh' performed. The organization has survived the purpose of its 
origin. It has become a part of the militia of the Coramonwealth. 
It was an honor to Roxbury ; it is an honor to Boston and the 
State. I invite Capt. A. A. ITai.t.. its commander, to respond for 
it. [Applause.] 

RESrOXSE OF CAPT. A. A. HALL. 

Mr. Pkesident axd Fei.low-Citizexs : — As I gaze around 
this hall, I notice here lots of our fine members, officers mixed in 
line with the gentlemen who wore red coats this afternoon, and I 
can assure you I feel almost as though I were speaking to tlieni in 
my own armor}'. I assure 3'ou, gentlemen, that I appreciate the 
enthusiasm you have manifested, not onl^' to-night, at the supper- 
table, but at the churcli this afternoon ; and further than that, I ap- 
peal to you, by the warmest sentiments of your hearts, to uphold the 
militia of INIassacluisetts so long as they are worthy to be upheld. 
If you desire your children to be educated in the niilitar}- arm of the 
pubhc service, then, gentlemen, such organizations as the Horse 
Guards, with their old-time i)restige, in ^vliich we learned the 
duties of a soldier, should not be forgotten. Gentlemen, there maj' 
be a little crying against the militia, — this or that one mav cry 
" Wolf ; " but yet, in spite of the man who does cry " Wolf" against 



86 KOXBURY CEXTENMAL. ' 

the militia, and against tlie volunteer arm}' oi" the United States, 
mark me, we will still maintain the militia, and in nine times out 
of ten the}- will l^e prepared to meet the enemy at a moment's 
warning. [Applause.] Gentlemen, I will close Avith a senti- 
ment : — 

"The Roxbtry Horse Guards. — May they survive in all their grandeur 
to see their next Centennial ; and, as time rolls by, may that glorious emblem 
of liberty, which God, in His infinite wisdom, gave to our country, still wave 
over you with neither star nor stripe erased ; and may the people from the 
gulf and the lakes, from the Atlantic and the Pacific, from the North and 
the South, live to enjoy full and c(pial rights under it." 

• [Applause, and three cheers for the Horse Guards.] 



€iigbtfcntb <^cntimcnt. 

"The Koxbury City Guard." 

Though here a sound democracy universall}"^ prevails. 
Yet the captain of this company is a very Prince of Wales. 

INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

Tills company is the successor of tlte old Roxbury Artiller}' 
Compau}', and has nearly reached its hundredth year. At the 
time of the war of the Rebellion, it faithfully performed its duty ; 
it went into the service, and, by its bearing in the camp, on the 
march, and on the field of battle, it was an honor to Roxbury. I 
invite Capt. B. Rkad Walks to respond for it. [Applause.] 

RESPONSE OF CAPT. B. READ WALES. 

Mu. Chairman ani> Citizens of Old Roxbuuy : — I find my- 
self in rather an anomalous position to-night, for I was born and 
bred across tlie wav in oM Dorcliestei- ; and wliile 1 have tlic lionor 



ROXBUKY CENTENNIAL. 87 

to command the Old Roxbur}- City Guard, I still do not forget mj- 
own old town. However, I need to sa}' very little about the Rox- 
bury City Guard ; those Avho have preceded me have spoken of 
them nobly and well. They need no eulogium ; you know what 
they have been in the past, you all see what they are in the 
present ; and it shall be our aim that tliey hold the same high 
place in the future. 

Gentlemen, in returning you our sincere thanks for the cordial 
support we always have received at your hands, w^e ask you to 
give us that needed support in the future. [Applause, and three 
cheers for the Roxbury City Guard.] 



Ilinctccntb Sentiment. 

"The KoxiiuuY Home Guard." 

'Tis true they saw no foeman's face, nor far from hearthstone did they roanj ; 
But bless, forever bless, the men who fed the loyal flame at home. 

INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN.. 

This coni[)aii\', gentlenieu, was created for a patriotic service 
during the time of the Avar, and, as (Jen. Swift says, this service 
was to be performed at home. It was a necessary service, and 1 
am happ}^ to l)ear testimony that it was most faithfully performed. 
I invite Colonel E. C. Wvman. its former (MJiuniander, to respond 
for it. [Applause.] 

RESPONSE OF COL. EDWARD C. WYMAN. 

Mr. Pkesidext : — 1 thank you, sir, and this conunittee, for the 
opportunity to be present to-night. I know that the past members 
of the Home Guard experience great pleasure in looking upon 
their old comrades, and particularly upon those wliose fortunes 
have led them away from old Roxbury, and who have come back 



88 KOXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

here to-night ; txnd in seeing so man}' liapi)}' faces, and in grasping 
the hands of tliose they love so well. 1 cU) not ])(>lieve tiiat a person 
has gone fortli from old Koxbiuy, with all its glorious memories of 
the past, hut thinks it is the most pleasant place in the world ; and 
as he comes back he is sure to lind the place of all his pleasant 
memories. Your toast-master has called upon me to res[)ond to a 
toast to the " Home Guard." I know it is popular to poke fun at 
the Home Guard; l)ut I think you will bear me out in saying it 
was not entirel}' an easy task. We had some difficulties to en- 
counter, and some delicate duties to perform. Your toast-master 
will I'emember that when he recruited his compan}' it was no easy 
task. I heard him speak forty nights, and never repeat the same 
speech once ; and when he s[)oke the last time he had nearly re- 
cruited his companv, and one or two men were wanting, and tiien 
a gi'and rally was held and he let oif a grand speech. I recollect 
saying tliat this last man must be got ; and he said that he must 
have one more pidl, and cited an instance of the engineer who 
launched the Great Eastern ; when all (^ther means had failed, the 
engineer cried out, " Wet down the rej)Oses ! " and when they 
were wet the mighty ship moved ; he called for a. pail of water, 
and wet down the ropes, and two days later he was off for camp ; 
and before he left, the Home Guartl procured a sword and pre- 
senteil it to him, and he bore it off; ;uid I have no doubt that 
many a rebel heart trembled at the sight of it. [Ai)plause and 
laughter.] 

Mr. Tresident, you will recollect that we had many curious 
scenes in those days. Sometimes there was pleasure, sometimes 
scares. I recollect that during the riots of 1S()3 we got into a 
considerable excitement, and thought the enemy really upon us; 
an<l our anxiety was really not only to keep the enemy olf, but to 
keep ourselves out of the draft. There was considerable excite- 
ment about the safety of the State House. I recollect that Col. 
Rogers and myself were sent for to come up to City Hall ; and 
when we got there we found a large caimon mounted, and [)ointed 
at the toj) of Dr. Thompson's church, and as we went in we tried 
not to get in front of that gun. [Laughter.] When we got in 
we Ibund the City Government in a stale of gi'eat excitement. 
Tiiey had heard that we were aliout to leave the city to protect the 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 89 

State House, and the}- urged us not to leave till they had time to 
eonsult. I was finally sent to Boston, where I found the city in a 
state of great excitement ; hut the}- sent back word to stay where 
we were, and the State sent out a battery to my support. I was 
somewhat in doubt what to do with that battery. Major Jeffries, 
a West Point man. was in connnaud ; hv. put on a stiff upper lip, 
and said he would go into line ; and tliey went into line, and I 
have never heard from them since. [Laugliter and applause.] 
There are many incidents connected with tlie Home Guard tluit I 
should be hai)py to relate ; but as only tln-ee minutes are allow^ed 
I will give up, hoping that those who come after us will enjoy 
themselves as much as we have. [Applause. J 



^tvicntictb .^^entimcnt. 

" The Koxblry I\Ii:dical FuvxintNiTY." 

Tlioiigli allopath and honiceopatli may cure our many ills, 
There is a path we all must talse — tlie path to Forest Hills. 

INTRODUCTIOX BY GEX. SWIFT. 

"With 30ur permission, Mr. Chairman, as I see no other doctor 
within the range of ni}- vision, I will call upon Dr. Cusiiixg AYebber 
to respond to this toast ; and, as he maile a good liit thirty years 
ago, he certainly can show us his skill now. 

RESPONSE OF DR. CUSHIXG WEBBER. 

I am very grateful for the honor you have extended to me of 
making a speech. I did not come ex[)ecting to do an}- such 
thing. I had no idea of l)eing called upon, and if I had, 
I should have got something ready to say. Our toast-master 
tells of a hit I ouce made. 1 must tell you, gentlemen, that 
12 



90 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

it was an accident. On a certain occasion, about tliirty years ago, 
when 1 was a member of tlie Roxbury Artillery, it was proposed 
to go out for a larget-shoot. We assembled at the old Armory' near 
Dr. Putnam's church. An old friend of mine was present, and 
thought he would like to march by me. I said I should be happ}' to 
have his company, if he would assist me in putting on the corpora- 
tion uniform, as 1 didn't know how to do it very well. lie got the 
belt, and put it aroinid me, but a certain part of it did not come 
in the right place. I couldn't llnd the place to put m^- ba^'onet, 
and some one laughed, and the gentleman referred to (who was 
Mr. Daniel (Jreen) said, " (icntlemen, you needn't laugh; the 
doctor and I will make you laugh on the other side of your heads, 
for we are going to take the first medals, — the doctor will take the 
first, and 1 will take the second." I remarked that, as he had l)een 
out before, I should like to take the first shot ; and he said that he 
was perfectly willing, and I should have it certainly. Away we 
marched out to South Boston, and beyond the Mt. Washington 
House, and there on the green we assembled to shoot at the target. 
There were two men on my left, I remember, and Mr. Green stood 
on my right. The two men on my left fired, and did not hit the 
target. 1 was rather slight of build, and not very strong. The 
old nmsket was very heavy, ami the bore ver^' smooth ; it did not 
resemble very nearly the guns used for target jjractice ; but I got 
it up fiigh in this way [Pointing, as with a gun, toward the upper 
part of the hall], because I could hold it more easily; and when 
it came down, I fired away, and, fortunately, my IjuUet entered 
the very centre of the bull's-eye. The gentleman attending to the 
target said that nobody there could beat that ; but jMr. Green 
raised his gun, and said, "I will see what 1 can do." lie fired, 
and, fortunately, he cut out half of my hole. I took the first, and 
he took the second prize. That is my story, and, I suppose, that 
is what the General wished to hear. [Applause.] 

Now, all those who wish to learn the heroic practice of adminis- 
tering Black Powders and Blue Pills successfully, in healing- 
national diseases, such as wars, bull-dozing, etc., I will recommend 
to join the Old Roxl)urv Artillerv Association. 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. Ul 

Clvicntn-first Sentiment. 

"The Old Roxbijuy Scnoor.-Bov." 

When in old-fashioned days of yore 

The Schoohnaster was abroad, 
They measured duty on the back, 

By the descending rod. 

INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

I invite to respond to this toast a gentleinaii who is deeply inter- 
ested in all tliat pertains to old Roxbur\', and wlio has rendered 
most faithful service in her cit^' government and on lier school 
board, Frakklin AYilliams, Esq. 

RESPONSE OF FRANKLIN WILLIAMS, ESQ. 

Mr. CiiAiRJiAN AND Genti.emex : — I fccl highly conipliuionted 
by the sentiment which has been given me to respond to, and I also 
feel complimented In- the allusion of the orator, this afternoon, to 
the name of Williams. As an humble representative of that name 
I feel proud, because that name has borne an honorable part in the 
history of the town of Roxbury, from its earliest settlement to the 
present time ; and yet I feel that I am not a good representative of 
the name I bear, for it has made itself felt all over the country. In 
the present Congress there are seven members bearing tlie name of 
Williams, and there have been men of that name in Congress from 
its first organization down to the present time. But, Mr. Chair- 
man. I am glad to respond for " the old School-Boys of Roxbury," 
for 1 love them; every son of Roxbury wlio attended our scliools 
has a warm place in my heart. I loved them in their youth and I 
respect them in their old age ; and 1 never see a company of boys 
and girls on their way to school, that m^' mind does not turn back 
to the time when Doctor Prentiss, Deacon Billy, Jack Frost, Mas- 
ters Eastman, Tower and Parker i)resided over the schools of 
Roxbury. I certainly remember them all ; and I well remember. 



92 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

ns if it were l)iit a few daj's ago, how the old school-master I last 
attended looked, as he sat in his seat, oftentimes asleep, and called 
up his scholars for a merited whipping. And now he qnietly rests 
in the okl bnrial-ground on Eustis street. He fought a good fight, 
and T ma}' say of him, as I may of C'apts. ( Jibl)s, Doggett, Spooner 
and Meriara of the old "Norfolk Guards," — 

'' They sleep tlieir last sleep, they have fought their last battle ; 
No sound shall awake them to glory again." 

But I am speaking for the old school-boys of Roxltur}". I say I 
love them, and I love the streets of Roxbury ; but I love them 
better as they were fifty years ago, when they were unencuml)ered 
by buildings or improvements, than as the\' are to-day. With what 
affection I look back upon the " Hay Bridge," " Ned's Hill," "The 
Crossway," "Mill-dam," "The Point," "Tory Hill," "Smith's 
Pond," " Hawes' Pond," and many another cluirming spot, when 
in their primitive and natural beauty ! I loved Tommy's Rock and 
Smelt Brook, — every myrtle vine, every blackberry bush and every 
barberry bush. 1 loved even the snakes as they crawled among 
the crevices, and the cows grazing upon the pastures. Each spot 
has a deep and abiding place in my heart. 

And now, Mr. Chairman, — I say it reverently. — my days are 
few. The whitening hair, and the deafening ear give notice to me 
and many others that our days on this earth are few ; Init I can say 
this, — if I should be called upon to go, 1 would piefer to go in the 
spring-time, w'hen the flowers of old Roxbury are in l»loom, when 
the turtles and frogs are pi[>ing again their earliest iKjfes, when the 
willow has brought once more its vernal Ijeauty ; and, instead of 
having upon my bier the choicest flowers of the greenhouse, I 
would prefer that the}' would go back to Tonnny's Rock, and cull 
for me the May-flower, the honeysuckle, the I)lue violet, and 
the blueberry blossom, as the fittest decoration that friends could 
bring; and it would mingle delightfully with the murnnn's of a 
coming joy to hear in my departing moments once more the rush- 
ing waters of " Stony Brook." And, when all is over and I shall 
be (piielly resting at Forest Hills, place over me no Italian or 
Egyptian marl)le ; search not in New Hampshire, Quiucy, or else- 



KOXIiUlJY CENTENNIAL. 93 

where for the clioiccst <>ranite ; but simply" go to yonder rock}' 
ledge, cut out n shaft of the ohl Roxbury pudding-stone, and 
erect it o'er my grave, showing to every behohler that beneath its 
enduring and rustic l)eauty sleeps a loyal son and school-bov of 
old Roxbury. [Applause.] 



^Ixicntn-sctont) Sentiment. 

" KoxBOUY AS A Part of tuk Capital." 

Shall we unite or not unite, 

Was a sea we once were tossed on ; 
Shall Roxbury go it all alone, 

Or shall she go to Boston? 
That was the vital question ; 

It worried one and all, 
Till we compromised it neatly — 

We took the Capital. 

INTRODUCTION BY TITK CHAIRMAN. 

1 have the pleasure of introducing to 3'ou, gentlemen, to respond 
to this toast, a gentleman whom we all know and respect, and to 
whose zealous labors we are all largel_y in(U'l)tetl for the success of 
this celebration, L. Foster Morsk, Esq. 

RESPONSE OF L. FOSTER MORSE. ESQ. 

j\Ir. Chaiumak and Gentlemen : — I hardly know how to res[)ond 
to the sentiment read by the toast-master, for I exi)ected that he 
would [)lace me on another line altogether. As he sa^'s, the ques- 
tion was, " Shall we unite, or go it alone?" Well, I was in favor 
of uniting ; not that I loved Roxbury less, for I love Roxbury as 
well as any man in this hall : I love her streets, her rocks, and her 
people. Wh^-, we have the finest property, the finest building- 
lots. The onl}' healthy place within the city of Boston, to-day, is 



94 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

ill old Roxbury ; and while we love it so well, should we dei^y its 
benefits to the citizens of Boston? Shonld we be selfish and keep 
it? Or shonld we allow them to settle within our borders, and we 
1)(' one with them? These were my reasons for favoring annexa- 
tion ; and the growth of Koxlmry shows that we have done a good 
thing. \Ve annexed with twenty-live thousand people, and now 
within the limits of old Roxbnry we have sixty thousand, and land 
enough for a hundred and fifty ; yes, three hnndred thonsaiid, 
besides West Roxbury. The time is coming when business shall 
so increase that all the low lands will be needed for com- 
mercial purposes, and people will ])e obliged to live on the 
high lands ; and then if we have the same feeling that we have 
now, we will change the name of Boston and call it all Roxbury. 
"The voice of the people is the voice of God." and if the voice of 
the people wish to call it Roxbury, it will be called Roxbury. Let 
us look back a little. We had " Pigeon Lane," " Tommy's Rocks," 
"Grab Village," "Clay Hill," "Hogg's Bridge," " Tory Hill," 
" Sodom Turnpike," " The Point," and all those places ; and where 
are they? The}' have gone. You don't want to tell me that yon 
live on "Pigeon Lane." Perhaps that so(,nded well two hundred 
years ago. But I would rather live on a street. Then " Tomm^-'s 
Rock" is almost gone. It is the high land. My irien<l Swift lives 
there, and that is what makes him so healthy. Before he lived out . 
here he was sickly. Lots of physicians moved out here ; but the}' 
did not have any [)ractice, for they found that people who had lived 
iicre a long time were healthy, and only those were sickly who had 
lived here a sluu't time and l)rought their diseases with them. 
[Laughter.] The doctors did not find any increase in business. 
My friend Tucker has seen lots of people live here for ninety years. 
Gen. Swift. Some of them are a little gra}'. [Laughter.] 
j\L'. MoKSK. It is the Centennial crop. Six months ago my 
hair was darker than yours, and my head was not bald on to}) as is 
yours, either. [Loud laughter.] 1 got sick, my hair dame out 
and I lost it all ; but I got a new crop just in time for the Centen- 
nial ; but now it is changing, and in six months it will be dark 
again. If a man didn't live in (jld I\oxl)ury he couldn't have raised 
such a clean croj) of hair. I have been asked why I didn't buy a 
wig. 1 didn't luiv a wig because I knew I wouldn't need it here. 



KOXBUKY CENTENNIAL. 95 

We are going to liave another tiling soon, l)nt the hard times 
have put it back ; and that is the Joseph "Warren Monument. 
[Apphiuse.] We are going to report progiess here. It took 
tweuty-five or thirty years to buihl Bunkir Hill ]Monunient. We 
began it some time ago, but the panic came along, and then the 
hard times followed. But we have got a little mone^' ; we have a 
good lot secured ; we have received cannon enough from the gov- 
ernment to make a statue ; and b^- and by. when we get a President 
elected, and business becomes good again, we are going to start 
out ; and we are coming to ever}- man in this hall and make him 
sub-scribe for the Warren Monument. [Loud applause.] I am 
glad it meets with so heart}' a response. 1 know that all we need 
to raise mone}' to build this monument is to call upon the people ; 
but it takes a great deal of brass now to ask a man to give some- 
thing outside of the famih'. But the time is coming when Ave can 
do it, and when we adjourn to-night I hope we shall adjourn to 
meet at the dedication of the Joseph Warren jNIonument. [Long- 
continued applause.] 



^Ixicntn-tbivL) .Sentiment. 

" The Koxbury Cakpkt-baggeu.'" 

They come from every compass point, 

And occupy eacli vacant space ; 
And as the native son goes out, 

The '• carpet-bagger " takes his place. 

INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

I have the pleasure of introducing to you, for the purpose of 
responding to this toast, a gentleman who has represented you 
with h(mor and creilit in the House of Representatives and the 
Senate of the CoiniiK)nwealtii — Hon. Alhkkt Paljiku. [A[)- 
plause.] 



96 ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 



RESPOXSE OF HON. ALBERT PALMER. 

Mr. ritESiDENT AND (iKNTLEMEN: — T SUV sincerely that, amid 
the feast of sacred and ancient memories of which we have come 
to partake to-niulit, I feel like an intruder, and that I shonld have 
no right to be introduced to this audience except under such an 
equivocal title as the toast-master has announced — '' The Rox- 
bury Carpet-bau'ger." I could not persuade mA'self to consent to 
respond to it, genth'men, if I thought there was a single one of 
the revered fathers of this ancient town who has not spoken ; and, 
if there is one here who has not spoken, and who will not speak 
l)ecause I take up the time, and 1 llnd it out, I will never forgive 
myself, and you will never forgive me, for this intrusion. I appeal 
to the ministers here if I overstate the matter when I say, in 
the language of the old Scripture, that we are sunnnoned here 
to-night to go round about our Zion, and mark her bulwarks and 
count the towers thereof, that we may tell it to the generation 
following. Mr. President, I am glad of the oi)portunity to sa}' 
to-night that I recognize in the sentiment which has been read the 
welcome of Roxbury to every incomer to this ancient city wlio 
comes here with the earnest desire to co-operate with the fathers 
in building up into a greater and higher prosperity this honored 
city of the Commonwealth. [Applause.] I thought at first there 
would be no constituency here to whom I could speak, as a '' car- 
pet-baggei'," in Roxbury ; and yet I am reminded that this very city 
is a monument to the activity of those ancient "carpet-baggers" 
who landed here some two centuries ago. I heard, sir, from your 
lips of one of the first apostolic '"carpet-baggers" who pitched 
his tent on this hill, and made every inch of that soil sacred for 
all time to come. [Applause.] 

I am reminded, Mr. President, of another cari)et-bagger — of 
that hero and statesman, Governor Dudley — who lived here and 
helped to make it famous for all time to come, even to the end of 
the world. And I am also reminded, by the sentiment which has 
been ri-ad, that Roxbuiy is a carpet-bag city, and that Massachu- 
setts is a carpet-bng State. She welcomes them all to her borders ; 
and then, in the activit}- of her intellect, and in all the distinguish- 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAIi. 97 

ing energies that press forth on every side, she sends them into 
even- city to plant anew and re-establish, all over these United 
States, all those ideas wliicli (lourish in the city of Roxbnry and 
the State of Massachusetts. [A[)phuise.] Gentlemen, I know 
there is some venerable father of this city who will yet speak to us 
to-night, and, in concluding, will oiler you this sentiment : — 

The Old and the New Founders, Fathers, Sons and Carpet-baggers. We 
will all clasp hands to-night in one common supplication to the God of our 
Fathers, that He will bless forever this dear old city of Roxbury ! [Ap- 
plause.] 



CimiTtg-fourtlj ^iutlmcnt. 

"West Roxbury — Our Rural Sister." 

As in the good old times, we meet, 

Within our common bounds again ; 
The reason of this welcome now. 

Is like her own Jamaica Plain. 

INTRODUCTION BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

Gentlkmen: — I take sincere pleasure in presenting to you a 
representative of an old and honored family of Eoxbur}', a worthy 
inheritor of the name he bears, J. Herman Curtis. [Applause.] 

RESPONSE OF J. HERMAN CURTIS, ESQ. 

Gentlemen : — I am most liappy to be present at the festive 
board on this occasion, and to meet my old comrades of the " Nor- 
folk Guards." I noticed among them man}- with whom I stood 
shoulder to shoulder on Bunker Hill tifty years ago, at the laying 
of the corner-stone ; and quite a number that were in that famous 
Salem march that my friend Tucker spoke of, when we left Salem 
at four o'clock in the afternoon, to march to Roxbury, with knap- 
sacks and blankets. I do not doubt that many of the boys in blue 



i)H ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 

sudc'red iniich on the forced iiiareli lo reach ( Jettysbnrg in order to 
suve Washington ; bnt I doubt if tlie_y sntfered more than onr men 
did, as we were under the most strict disciplinarians, wlio Ivnew no 
such word as "■ tired." We have heard miicli saitl about old 
Roxbury by my friend Clarke. No man spent more money than I 
to defeat annexation of West Roxbur3-. When the war closed, 
West Roxbury did not owe a dollar ; and we were the only town in 
the State in tliat condition. We enlisted men, raised money, and 
carried on many improvements ; and we paid for everything- as we 
went. But when that fatal (la_y came, we were defeated ; we became 
a part of Boston, and accepted it with a good grace ; and with such 
an administration as we have had for the past three years, I, for one, 
feel proud of being a citizen of Boston. [Applause] I see a 
great many here whom I know, and a great many whom I do not 
know ; but I am i)articnlarly pleased to see so many of tlie " Nor- 
folk Gnards " and take them by the hand. Before we left our 
head-quarters a roll was presented to e^•ery man to sign his name 
and age, and I was surprised to see how man}- of that number 
were threescore years and ten. I will detain you no longer, 
gentlemen, as there are a great many here who will interest you 
much more than I can. [Ai)plause.] 



(Ttnciitn-fiftl) ^Sentiment. 

"The I^ay We Celebrate." 

The hourly sands are ruiininu: out from tliis. our festive meeting, 

Our " lloxbury Day " is on tht' wane — may otliers eome witli greetim. 

Our hist words, as our tirst ones, of Koxhury make mention; 

To keep her memory ever green is now our idedged intention. 

We h)ve tins ohl Instorie spot — its memorahli' phices ; 

We h)ve its lionorahle names, and all its tVieiuliy t'aees ; 

We love the piety and nerve of those who did begin her — 

.\nd more, we love the living hearts that heat to-day within her. 

( )h ! may the liK-ssiugs of our God around her children hover; 

I'xitli native and adopted sons pU'ad, " Uless the dear old mother." 

And wishing those who hear me now cvxe-mption from disaster. 

I now resign, with many thanks, my otHee of Toast-nuister. 



[Ldud appl;ius('.] 



ROXBURY CENTENNIAL. 99 

Cbc Xust .^futimcnt. 

Gkn. Swift said : 1 have now one special toast: — 
" The Bettor Half of Roxhiiry — The Women." 
I propose that it be responded to by three cheers. 

The company enthusiastically responded to the call with 
three rousing cheers ; and then there were cries of " Swift ! " 
" Savift I " from all parts of the hall. Gen. Swift responded 
as follows : — 

Gentlkmkn : — I thank yon for the Avarmth of the reception you 
giye me, but I iiaye actually exhausted myself in these poetic at- 
tempts, and I dare not trust myself to common prose. If I live I 
hope to meet this people once more in another celebration ; l)ut I 
have retired for the present to private life. [Applause and appre- 
ciative laughter.] 

CLOSIXG REMARKS BY THE CHAIRMAN. 

Gentlemen: — In behalf of Old Koxljury, and of all those \vho 
love and honor her name and her history, I thank von for your 
attendance to-night. Lpt not her name die out with the century 
Just closed, but let it go into the centur}- to come. 

This sentiment was loudly applauded, and three cheers 
were given for Gov. Gaston. 

The company joined in singing " Auld Lang Syne;" and 
thus ended a cclel)ratioii never to be forgotten by every par- 
ticipant, and which occupies no insignificant place in the 
long list of local ceremonies commemorative of events 
which made the Centennial Year of the American Kepublic a 
possibility. 



NOTES ON THE CELEBRATION. 



The Norfolk Guards Association was organized specially for the 
occasion, through the efforts of Captain Guild, John F. Newton. 
Esq., Mr. Jolm Dove, and other well-known citizens and former 
active members. The company was organized in 1818 ; was reor- 
ganized in 1838, after a temporary intermission, and was disl)anded 
in 1855. Captain Guild was the only connnissioned otiicer of the 
comi)any present ; he connnanded the corps about 184G, during 
some of the palmiest days of its history. Captain Guild furnished 
a room in Guild Row for a temporary armory, and dui-ing the 
week preceding the celebration those veteran volunteers met for 
preparatory drill, as many as thirty, forty and fifty appearing 
together on the same evening. The hour preceding the forming of 
the procession was spent in the same laudable manner, the company 
having previously enjoyed a collation in (iuild Row. Tlie success 
of tliis reunion of the Norfolk (Guards was a most pleasant as well 
as a really remarkable feature of the day. The company- had not 
had a reunion since 1860, and the sui'viving members are all well 
advanced toward the period in life when marching in a public pro- 
cession could hardly be expected of them. But the call to march 
in honor of Old Roxbury was irresistible. These veteran citizens 
promptly assembled, and the association presented a combination 
of social and business elements seldom seen in one detachment of 
a local parade. After tlie procession was dismissed, the associa- 
tion returned to their temporary armory, where most of the 
members signed the roll. The names, ages, and date of member- 
ship when given, are appended : — 



NOTES ON THE CELEBRATION. 



101 



Job T. Grash (charter iik-ihIxt) 

Joseph* W. Tucker . 

Abijah W. Goddard 

Henry Basford 

Lewis Plack . 

Joscpli Ilernuin Curti: 

George B. Davis 

Edwin Lemist 

Moses Withinpton . 

E. G. Scott . 

Reuben Hunting 

Francis Freeman 

David S. Eaton 

Simeon Butt . 

Asa Tyler 

Geo.-S. Curtis 

S. A. Jordan . 

Edward Sumner 

T. R. W. Humpliries 

Jonas Filleljrown 

George W. Rice 

I. F. Smith . 

Willnrd Warren 

Charles M. Jordan . 

Charles E. Eliot 

Charles Erskine 

H. R. Eaton . 

Calvin Young . 

Andrew W. Newman 

John Palker . 

John H. Brookhouse 

James Guild (Past Com.) 

Otis S. Pierce . 

D. C. Bates . 

Edward F. Mecuen 

Charles G. Bird 

Graham Hall . 

Wm. Rumrill . 

Daniel E. Page 

R. H. Wiswall 

John F. Newton 

John Dove 



^ge. 


Date of 




Membership. 


76 


1818 


75 


1823 


73 


1824 


G8 




72 




7<» 


1823 


72 


1824 


70 


1834 


G6 


1831 


60 


1830 


CA 




54 




68 




69 


1830 


62 




67 


1827 


45 




66 


1834 


60 




72 


1824 


61 




62 





42 

55 
54 
48 
60 
63 
61 
60 
65 
65 
60 
61 
66 
57 
62 
60 
6!) 
47 
62 



1 834 



102 



NOTES OX THE CELEBEATION. 



Antipas Newton 
Benj. F. Stone 
James Robinson 
Josiali M. llnssell 
E. B. Kunirill . 
Henry Kellogg 
Franklin Williams 
James G. Miller 
John Culligan 



(\gc. 


Date of 




Membership. 


59 




02 




71 


1824 


50 




50 




04 




53 




54 





There Avere several who aecideiitall_y missed the opportunity to 
sign the roll. The hope is indulged that a, permanent association 
will be one result of the reunion. 

Among the members of the Roxbury Artillery Association taking 
l)urt in the celebration were Past Commander Isaac S. Burrell, the 
chief mnvshal ; Past Lieutenant Joseph Hastings, who had charge 
of the police detail ; Past Captains Samuel S. Chase, John Ij. 
Stanton, Charles fl. Davis. J. P. Jordan; Past Lieutenants 
Josiah Snelling, 01)ed Rand, Wm. IL McTntosli, Charles IL 
Blodgett, AVm. C. Capelle, Henry A. Thonias, John T. Robinson, 
Edwin R. Jenness, AVm. H. Cowdin and Wm. W. (iraham. 
Lieutenant Snelling joined in 1S2'J, and was the oldest member 
present. Lieutenant Obed Rand served consecntivel}' from 1837 
to I.SOI. General Burrell served from 1840 to 18 "jT. Lieutenant 
Hastings joined in 1837, Captain C'hase in 1838, and Captain 
Stanton in 1810. Among those who n)ay be classed among the 
vetei-ans weiv Benjamin Hawse, 1838; William Ewell, 1840; 
Atwell Richardson, 1842; William H. Mcintosh, 1843; Greenleaf 
C. (ieorge, 184.3; George R. JNIatthews, 1845; AVilliam Brock, 
184G; George W. Downes, 1840; James Bell, 1848; John A. 
Scott, 1849; Joseph S. Knower, 1850; Charles H. Blodgett, 
1.S50 ; Joseph Wiggins, 1842. The Old Roxbury Artillery was 
organized in 1784; there was a slight break-up in 171)0, and a 
i-eorganization in 1708, since when there has been no interval of 
dis(»iganizaf ion. In 1.S58, thi'ce years after Governor Ciardner had 
()i(lere(l the old foot artillery to l)e changed to infantr}', the Rox- 
l)ury Artillery, after a long and sharp light among the members, 



NOTES ON THE CELEBRATION. - 108 

abandoned the old name and classification, and beca*me the Eoxbuiy 
City Guard. The present association was formed in 18G8, and is 
composed of past members of the City Guaid and the old Artilleiy 
Company. Of those who paraded, eighteen served througli the 
Kcbellion with honor. Tlie Roxbury City Guard furnished three 
companies in tlie Kel)ellii)n, wlio served out tlie terms for wliich 
they respectively enlisted, namely, three months, one hundred days, 
and three years. Tlie City (Juard were rei)resented on the Chief 
^rarslud's start' by Past Conunander Isaac P. Gragg. Among the 
active members of the Guard who participated were Lieuts. Geo. 
(). Fillebrown, who was in charge of the ushers at the church ; 
Geo. E. Hall and H. C. Gardner, Avho were in the ranks. 

The time allowed Gen. Sargent to prepare the oration was uaich 
too short, and only by a negl(!ct of his private Inisiness was he 
enal)led to complete it. \'ery little had been published ol" the 
history of Koxbury before and during the Revolution, and a large 
pai-t of the data had to be obtained In- a personal inspection of old 
records. A work cvidenth" so laborious could have been performed 
in so brief a period only bv one actuated l)y the most ai-dent 
devotion to the home of his childhood, and a patriotic desire to 
rescue its history from the obscurity with which it has so long 
been enveloped in dust-covered manuscripts, and in the i)assiiig 
allusions of historical writers. 

Many residents on the line of march (lis})laye(l the national 
colors, and otherwise manifested their inteiest in the occasion. 
The most notable decoration was b}- Charles K. Dillaway, Esq., 
in front of wliose residence on Roxl)ury street was an arch bear- 
ing the words: "This house was built in 1750, and for eighty 
V'ears was the home of the ministers of the First Church." 

Among those who made substantial contributions to the success 
of the celebration were the livery-stable keei)ers of Roxbury. 
Mr. Owen Nawn gratuitously furnished the horses for the artillery, 
and two four-horse baroiu-hes for the invited guests ; and a 
barouche was su[)|)lie(l on the same terms by each of the following 
firms: Benjamin Franklin, Xdrthend & Foster, Parker Bryant, 
Cassidy Brothers, J. A. Rogers. 

The restricting of the admissions to the church to ticket-holders 
was a double necessity : first, the church would not hold all who 



104 NOTES ON THE CELEBRATION. 

would liavo likod to be present ; second, it was the means of de- 
IVavino- the exjjenses of the celebration. Ever_y purchaser of a 
ticket for the banquet received two tickets to the church. The 
desire to hear the oration was often the means of selling one or 
more dinner tickets. 



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